All Aboard: The Golden Age of the Orient Express (Photos)

The Orient Express forever changed the way we travel. For the first time, regular people were able to indulge their sense of adventure and journey across the world as they knew it, experiencing for themselves new lands and the people who inhabited them. To mark the 130th anniversary of the opening of the line connecting Paris to Istanbul, the Arab World Institute has gone back in time with a new exhibit, "Once Upon a Time on the Orient Express," that is complete with three fully decked-out train cars. See some of the relics of that bygone era.

Malika Favre

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This painting commemorates the creation of the first railway line in Turkey in 1876.

Bruxelles, collection particuliere/Tajan

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The score for the song entitled "Orient Express."

Kallimages

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A group of tourists in front of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Kallimages

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A map from 1931 of the Simplon-Orient-Express network and Taurus Express.

Sidoli/Rambaud

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View of the Golden Arrow car.

JÃ©rÃ´me Galland

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Inside the Golden Arrow train car.

JÃÂ©rÃÂ´me Galland

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Left: Reconstruction of a toilet used in some cars, accessible from two sleeping compartments. Right: Toilet service in the first sleeper.

Sidoli/Rambaud

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Left: A Moynat trunk cabinet with a Simplon Orient Express label from 1920. Right: A Moynat toiletry trunk from 1930.

Sidoli/Rambaud

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Pascal Sebah, "Whirling Dervishes," 1870. The show was an unavoidable curiosity during a trip to Turkey.

Kallimages

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Rolls Royce liaising on sections of rail networks.

Rambaud/Sidoli

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Tourists on the Giza Plateau.

Kallimages

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Egyptian cars were made in France and shipped by boat to Egypt.

Rambaud/Sidoli

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Tourists are photographed in Turkish attire.

Kallimages

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Left: Poster for Nairn car service which was used when the rail network was interrupted on the Taurus Express. Center: Luggage tag for Pera Palace. Right: Poster by Roger Broders, 1931.

Sidoli/Rambaud; ADAGP

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Left: Poster promoting travel "Egypt Europe" by train and boat by an anonymous designer, 1910. Center: An advertisement for tourism in Istanbul, Turkey, designed by N. Ergüver circa 1950. Right: Posters advertising the Ghezireh Palace festivals in Cairo, 1896.

SNCF, Archives historiques; Kallimages

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Laying track in Serbia for the Orient Express.

Kallimages

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Picture of a boat of tourists on the Nile.

Kallimages

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Packs of dogs were a tourist attraction in Constantinople.

Kallimages

All Aboard: The Golden Age of the Orient Express (Photos)

To mark the 130th anniversary of the line connecting Paris to Istanbul—and forever changing the way we travel—the Arab World Institute has gone back in time with a new exhibit.

The Daily Beast