Picture a Day: New Photos Added to the "Gates of Jerusalem" Essays Damascus, Golden, Lions Gates & a Preview of Jaffa Gate

Monday, November 7, 2011

New Photos Added to the "Gates of Jerusalem" Essays
Damascus, Golden, Lions Gates & a Preview of Jaffa Gate

Jaffa Gate (circa 1890) -- a preview of a future feature. Before
the emperor of Germany arrived in 1898, the Turks razed the
shops, filled the moat to the right and built a road
so he could ride into the Old City in his carriage.

Israel Daily Picture uncovered "new old" pictures of the gates of Jerusalem's Old City, dating back to the 1890s.

Incredibly, the pictures were produced in color in an early color process.

We also present a preview of a future feature on Jaffa Gate.

See previous photo essays on the Zion Gate, Damascus Gate, Golden Gate, Dung Gate and Lions Gate.

Lions Gate (1890)

Damascus Gate (circa 1890)

Golden Gate (1890)

1 comment:

Patrick OdeaJuly 31, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Your vast collection of historic images and remarkable trace of our Israel heritage is bringing so much treasures in my rather young shipping household goods business in this country. Hats off!
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Now cited by the Library of Congress to update, correct, and provide context to its pictures

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אתר ייחודי זה מוקדש לצילומים ישנים של ארץ ישראל והוא מלא וגדוש להתפקע בצילומים מפתיעים ולא מוכרים, שנלקחו בעיקר מהאוספים העצומים של ספריית הקונגרס האמריקני בוושינגטון. אוהבי הנוסטלגיה וההיסטוריה של ארץ ישראל ימצאו שם את כל מה שאיוו לו
"דא, "עונג שבת

These are amazing pictures. The history of Jerusalem had always been a spectacle for me. I'm really hoping to get here after my tours in Jordan. -- MB

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Published by Lenny Ben-David

About the title photograph of Jerusalem

The photograph, from the Library of Congress collection, was taken between 1860 and 1880 by Frank M. Good, according to the Library. But we can narrow down the dates a little further. The photo shows the Churva Synagogue dome on the left horizon between the two mosques' domes. The Churva was finished in 1864.

Most of the Library of Congress pictures are from photographers from the "American Colony" in Jerusalem, a group of Christian utopians -- often eccentric -- who lived in Jerusalem between 1881 and the 1940s. They returned to the U.S. and bequeathed their massive collection to the Library of Congress in 1978. The photos were digitalized in recent years.

A history of the American Colony Photography Department can be found in Jerusalem's American Colony and Its Photographic Legacy by Tom Powers and in an Institute for Palestine Studies article, Western Consumption and "Insider" Commercial Photography. Unfortunately, the latter article pays little attention to the photographs of Jews and Jewish sites.

Click on the photos to enlarge. Click on the captions to see the originals.

According to the Library of Congress, "there are no known restrictions on publication" of their photographs.