On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Urinoir à 3 Stalles (Chaussée du Maine) (Urinal with Three Stalls, chaussée du Maine)

Charles Marville French

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 691

Sometimes called vespasiennes (after the first-century Roman emperor Vespasian, who generated revenue through the public latrine system), the first public urinals were installed in Paris in 1834. Their numbers multiplied greatly during the Second Empire, owing to Haussmann’s near obsession with sanitation. Varying in design from basic shells to ornately decorated structures, the vespasiennes (only one of which remains) frequently boasted advertising columns and were sometimes topped by a lamp.

Urinoir à 3 Stalles (Chaussée du Maine) (Urinal with Three Stalls, chaussée du Maine), Charles Marville (French, Paris 1813–1879 Paris), Albumen silver print from glass negative

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.