An 1881 photo of the Holy City of Makkah and an image of a dead crocodile on a boat on the Nile in Egypt are among the world's earliest known photographs that will be on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi starting April 25.

The exhibition, entitled "A World of Exchanges, Photographs 1842 – 1896: An Early Album of the World", explores the development of photography through images taken by travelers and sailors in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, India and the Americas.

This is the first time many of these pictures, namely those that were taken with a vernacular or everyday standpoint, will have been shown in the region or at all.