= This peepshow or perspective diorama is made from a set of handcoloured printed cards, fastened together in such a way that, when expanded, they are at set distances from each other. The whole thing can be folded flat for storage. The viewer looks through the hole in the front image, and is transported into the interior of the tunnel, the set of two-dimensional images transforming into the illusion of a three-dimensional view with people and carriages crossingthe Thames tunnel. The Thames Tunnel, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping beneath the river bed, was the first tunnel to be successfully built beneath a navigable river, and pioneered “tunneling shield” technology invented by Marc Isambard Brunel and Thomas Cochrane.
When the tunnel and its entrance shaft opened to the public in 1843, they were immensely popular. The entrance and the tunnel itself had sideshows and souvenir shops, and attracted a million visitors in the first three months. The view seen through this diorama is less dramatic and bustling, but shows pedestrians strolling or resting and admiring the structure, people on horseback and horsedrawn carriages.