The 'Kotel' Exposed with the Advent of
Photography,
Old/New Photos of the Kotel Now Online in Great Detail
--
With Thanks to the Library of Congress Archives
"Exterior of Haram-Ash-Sharif,
Wailing place
of the Jews" by Peter Bergheim (1865). The newly available photo allows us to explore details usually not seen Bergheim established a photographic studio in the Christian Quarter. A converted Jew, he was well aware of Jerusalem's holy sites. |
The advent of ocean-going steamships and tourism to the Holy Land and the development of photography all went hand-in-hand in the latter half of the 19th century. Tourism encouraged photography and photographs encouraged tourists, explained photography curator Kathleen Stewart Howe, author of The Photographic Exploration of Palestine.
While the first people to look at Palestine
through a lens were amateur photographers and missionaries in the 1840s, by the
1860s professional photographers began to visit holy sites and even establish
photo studios. Military explorers and surveyors often used the services of the
photographers.
The "wall of
wailing" by Frank Mason Good. The Library of Congress dates the photo as published in 1881. The authoritative Palestine Exploration Fund records that it was taken by Good during his first trip to the Near East in 1866/67. Good's panoramic picture of Jerusalem appears as the title photo of this website above. |
Among the tourists were Mark Twain and his
“Innocents Abroad” companions in 1867. His party stayed at the same Old
City Mediterranean Hotel as a British survey team headed by Lt. Charles
Warren.
The American Colony settlers who arrived in 1881
eventually established a tourist store inside the Jaffa Gate in the Old City
where they sold their photographs. They capitalized on the fierce demand for
pictures of the German emperor’s visit to Jerusalem in 1898.
The Library of Congress
archives contain not only the 22,000 photographs of Palestine by the American
Colony photographers, but also pictures dating back to the 1860s by pioneering
photographers Felix Bonfils, Peter Bergheim, Frank Good and others. The American
Colony pictures were donated to the Library of Congress and classified as
“public domain.” Photographs of the
Western Wall by the other photographers, some more than 130-year-old, were
available to researchers within the Library, but never “made public”
Online.
"Wailing place
of the Jews, Solomon's Wall," Jerusalem. The Library of Congress dates the picture in the 1890s and doesn't name the photographer. But the name Bonfils can be seen in the enlarged photo. Other similar photos in the Getty collection prove that Frenchman Felix Bonfils was the photographer and that the picture was taken in 1869. Bonfils died in 1885. |
In response to our recent inquiries, the head of
the Photo Research Division explained, “Our legal counsel has asked us to allow
130 years to elapse before displaying larger images outside Library of Congress.
Based on the available information, I was able … to display outside Library of
Congress buildings for some of the images you mention.”
These photographs are presented here and
are now available to the public Online. The old glass plate photographic technique,
rather than paper and film, provides viewers with an amazing enlargement
capability.
A similar Bonfils photo (Getty) |
Click on pictures to
enlarge.
Click on captions to view the
Library of Congress originals with the option to use "Tiff"
enlargement.
"Ashkenazi Jews" who may have been models (1867) |
In viewing these
145-year-old pictures, bear in mind that these are not the spontaneous snapshots
of today. The pictures required long exposures and extensive set-up, Stewart
Howe explained. Often the subjects were models dressed to play the role.
That was apparently the
case of the seven “Ashkenazi Jews”
photographed at the Mediterranean Hotel in the Old City in 1867 by a member of
Lt. Charles Warren’s expedition team.
"Exterior of the Haram-Ash-Sharif. Wailing place of the Jews," by Peter Bergheim (1865). View a similar picture here |
This collection of 19th century photographs presents a portrait of Jerusalem's Jewish community, a pious population who gathered at the retaining wall of Judaism's most sacred site. According to the 1871 visitor to Jerusalem William Seward, the American Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln, the Jews comprised half of the city's population, the Muslims one-quarter, and the Christians and Armenians the remainder.
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Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your head from the Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach.
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People
Charlotte, NC USA