The Salle des Pas Perdus of the Palais de Justice in Paris is recorded here in the immediate aftermath of the fires set by the Paris Commune, in a albumen-print stereoview published by A. Block, Editeur, Paris as part of his "Ruines de Paris & Environs" series. Fires were set in various parts of the Palais de Justice by the Commune on 24 May 1871, destroying nearly a quarter century of ongoing construction work. In the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune of 1870–1871, photographers documented the destruction caused by the Prussian siege and the fires set by the Communards in official buildings across the city.

The view looks down the length of the great hall, revealing two parallel barrel-vaulted naves defined by rows of fluted Corinthian columns and sweeping round-arch arcades; the iron-and-glass roof canopy above is shattered, its skeletal framework exposed to open sky. Decorative sculptural elements survive on the column capitals and entablatures, contrasting sharply with the gutted shell below. The orange printed mount carries the series title "Ruines de Paris & Environs" along the left vertical edge and the publisher credit "A. Block Editeur, Paris" along the right.

The Salle des Pas Perdus has served as the heart of the Palais de Justice since the thirteenth century, comprising two imposing naves defined by a row of full-arch arcades of monumental scale. Contemporaries considered the courtrooms among the most picturesque ruins in Paris, described by Ludovic Halévy as "a prodigious cave-in," a "gigantic collapse." The rebuilt Salle des Pas Perdus, the work of architects Duc and Dommey, was inaugurated in 1875.

Inscribed in ink on the reverse: "Salle des pas perdus / Palais de Justice" (Hall of Lost Footsteps / Palace of Justice).