Celebrating Passover (Pesach) in the Holy Land 100 Years Ago - Israel's Picture A Day

Celebrating Passover (Pesach) in the Holy Land 100 Years Ago Posted: 10 Apr 2014 "National Passover Party" in Rehovot, 1900.   The march of the students of the Gymnasium (school) in Jaffa.  (Harvard/Central Zionist Archives) Passover in Israel is marked by two weeks of school holidays, tourist visits, hikes into nature preserves, and special programs at museums, amusement parks, and theaters.  So it was 100 years ago, as well.   Three women riding on a camel at Passover celebration in Rehovot (Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives, 1912) https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CJYzeYML9Rc

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) - Walls & Gates of Jerusalem

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Chatham Library Photo Treasures Part 2, the Walls & Gates of Jerusalem Responsible Archivists Are Digitizing their Vintage Pictures Panorama of Jerusalem and the walls of the city. Note how few buildings were outside the walls of the Old City.  (Chatham University Archives, circa 1890) Click on pictures to enlarge The Chatham University is not the only library to digitize their vintage pictures from Palestine.  In recent weeks we have discovered newly-scanned collections at several more libraries and even a European church.  We will present the collections in future postings. The Chatham University Archives placed all 110 colored slides from the"Holy Land Lantern Slides"online, and in this posting we present a selection to focus on the collection's pictures of Jerusalem's walls and gates.   Another Jerusalem Panorama taken from Mt Scopus (Chatham University Archives, circa 1890) Jaffa Gate (Chatham University Archives circa 1890) This Picture of Jaffa Gate has been featured in previous postings when we found it in other collections.  We also determined that the photo was taken prior to 1898 because of a glimpse of the moat wall on the right side of the picture. The wall was torn down and the moat filled in so that the Germany emperor's carriage could enter.  Damascus Gate   (Chatham University Archives) View other historical (black and white) pictures of the Damascus Gate at our previous posting. There are no pictures of the Zion, Dung and Herod Gates of the Old City. The "New Gate" of the Old City, an entrance built for access into the Christian Quarter, was constructed in 1889, after the photographs were taken. Lions Gate, also known as St. Stephen's Gate (Chatham University Archives) The "lions" carved on both sides of the gate are actually panthers, the symbol of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars (1223-1277). The panthers were believed to have been part of a Mamluki structure and placed at the gate by Suleiman to commemorate the Ottoman victory over the Mamluks in 1517.  View an earlier posting on Lions Gate here.  The sealed Sha'ar Harachamim, or the Golden Gate, taken from Gethsemane Garden   (Chatham University Archives) See our previous feature on  Sha'ar Harachamim and the graves  beneath it here.

Walls and Gates of Jerusalem - Part 4

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Walls & Gates of Jerusalem, Jaffa Gate --  More Pictures from the  Emory University Collection, Part 4 When was this picture of the Jaffa Gate taken? Here are clues. The Jaffa Gate, from the Emory collection. Several features  in the photograph tell us when the picture was taken. Note the tower, in particular.  Jaffa Gate photographed by Peter Bergheim, perhaps as  early as 1860 (Library of Congress collection) For centuries, the entrances to Jerusalem were small and often built with sharp angles to make access difficult to attackers.  Jerusalem consisted only of the Old City with little habitation beyond the walls, rebuilt in 1540 during the reign of the Ottoman ruler, Suleiman the Magnificent.  Until the end of the 19th century, most wagons and carriages stopped outside of the gates and people and products went in through the gates.   William Seward (Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state) wrote in 1871 that the population of the Old City was 16,000, comprised of 8,000 Jews, 4,000 Mohammedans, and 4,000 Christians. Original caption: "Interior of Jaffa Gate from near Hotel Mediterranean" by Felix Bonfils (circa 1870). Note the moat on the left and the narrow path. Mark Twain and his "Innocents Abroad" colleagues stayed in the Hotel Mediterranean in 1867. Two major architectural changes in the Jaffa Gate in 1898 and 1908 help historians date the early photographs of the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.  The first was the breaching of the wall in 1898 to permit German Emperor Wilhelm II to ride into the Old City without dismounting and with his escort of carriages.  To built the roadway, a moat -- visible in pre-1898 photos -- had to be filled in.  Click on photos to enlarge.  Click on captions to view the original pictures. In 1908 the Turkish authorities built a clock tower near the gate in honor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.  A photochrom picture of the Jaffa Gate (circa 1890). Note the wall of the moat under the yellow arrow, indicating the photo was prior to 1898. The British captured Jerusalem in 1917, and the tower was knocked down in 1922. We can now determine that the Emory University collection photo was taken after 1908 when the tower was erected. Once the Jaffa Gate walls were breached, the entrance became a major thoroughfare, especially as an entrance to the Turkish army base and prison in the Old City, known as the "Kishle." The shops outside the gate were torn down prior to the German Emperor's visit. Traffic jam inside Jaffa Gate, 1898. The Turkish military escort, was possibly part of the German Emperor's entourage.   Close inspection on the left of the photo shows an American flag hanging outside of the Grand or Central Hotel, formerly the Mediterranean Hotel. A Jewish shop immediately outside of Jaffa Gate Another view of Jaffa Gate before 1898. See  adjacent photo enlargement of the shops   An photo enlargement of the Jaffa Gate and the shops (from the picture taken before 1898) shows a Jewish millinery shop with a Hebrew sign selling various headgear for religious Jews, some of whom are standing outside of the shop. The Library of Congress caption notes:  Photograph taken before October 1898 visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Jerusalem when a breach was made in the wall near the Jaffa Gate. (Source: L. Ben-David, Israel's History - A picture a day, Oct. 30, 2012.)