flames just before a high-status death, but has later shown no damage from any such fire. This chapel was also known for being unique in its architectural beauty. Daguerre was aware of both of these aspects of Roslin Chapel, and this made it a perfect subject for his diorama painting. The legends connected with the chapel would be sure to attract a large audience. Interior of Roslin Chapel in Paris opened 24 September 1824 and closed February 1825. The scene depicted light coming in through a door and a window. Foliage shadows could be seen at the window, and the way the light's rays shone through the leaves was breathtaking and seemed to "go beyond the power of painting" (Maggi). Then the light faded on the scene as if a cloud was passing over the sun. The Times dedicated an article to the exhibition, calling it "perfectly magical". The dioramas prospered, earning 200,000 francs a year, a very high profit for the 1830s period. The surging demand led to new diorama theatres opening in London and Berlin. However, in 8 March 1839, a fire broke out in the theatre in Paris. Daguerre urged the firefighters to stop the blaze on the fifth floor, where all his daguerreotype specimens, notes, and equipment were kept. He was more interested in the development of daguerreotypes, and later in August 1839, his daguerreotype specimens were debuted. Later in the 1840s, along with increasing attention to motion photography and cinema, people lost interest in dioramas. The fire, along with the waning demand of dioramas caused a decline in the industry. Portraits of and artworks by Louis Daguerre See also John Herschel Frederick Langenheim List of people considered father or mother of a field Palladiotype Photographic processes Platinotype William Willis Daguerreotype References Sources Carl Edwin Lindgren. Teaching Photography in the Indian School. Photo Trade Directory: 1991. India International Photographic Council. Edited: N. Sundarraj and K. Ponnuswamy. VII IIPC-SIPATA Intl. Workshop and Conference on Photography — Madras, p. 9. R. Colson (ed.), Mémoires originaux des créateurs de la photographie. Nicéphore Niepce, Daguerre, Bayard, Talbot, Niepce de Saint-Victor, Poitevin, Paris 1898 Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, L.J.M. Daguerre. The History of the Diorama and the Daguerreotype, London 1956 (revised edition 1968) Beaumont Newhall, An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Various Processes of the Daguerreotype and the Diorama by Daguerre, New York 1971 Hans Rooseboom, What's wrong with Daguerre?