At six locations in the town-centre of Nijmegen panels have been placed, displaying photographs made by Joris Ivens` grandfather, Wilhelm Ivens (1849-1904). He was a city photographer, who also held a Royal commission, and worked around the end of the 19th century. In his work Wilhelm Ivens captured the emergence of modernity in Nijmegen.

Between 1880 and 1890 Wilhelm Ivens produced a great number of photographic plates of Nijmegen, photographic series that are as skillful as they are extensive. When the city`s mediaeval walls were torn down in 1874, the face of Nijmegen changed remarkably. It was this new and `modern` city, with its broad streets, green parks and prominent buildings that Wilhelm Ivens sought to capture. The resulting photographs offer a visual tour through Nijmegen at the end of the 19th century, making the past of Joris Ivens` place of birth very tangible.