A large collection of antique photographs, collected by the Turkish diplomats from the Israeli occupied Palestine in recent years, have been put on public showing at the Lok Virsa Museum (Heritage) here from Monday.
Those span the history of nearly 60 years of Ottoman rule in that region that ended with the overthrow of Sultans during the First World War.
The oldest camera photograph is of the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem City taken in 1856, just a few years after a French inventor perfected a camera.
The last two or three show the occupation of the Holy Land in 1917 by the British troops. In between is a mosaic of social, cultural, religious, political and tribal life of the old Palestine with one showing Lawrence of Arabia in conference with the tribal leaders.
According to the caption he was inciting the Bedouins to revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
The picture is circa 1916 and a year later the British came into control of the Holy Land extending their control over to most of Mesopotamia (Bilad-e-Sham) and sharing a part of it with the French.
The territory mandated to France was called Levant and comprised the present-day Lebanon and Syria. That brought the floodgates to Jews from Eastern Europe and Germany to Palestine.
Despite consumption by chemicals and the natural aging process, by and large the photographs retain the detail of the object, especially the human and animal figures.
There are some very familiar scenes like the dishevelled priests and pilgrims, a family of gypsies making a bear acrobat and pulsate to the tune of a flute, a goat that pussy-foots on a narrow pedestal and of course, the ever-present on such occasions, the trickster monkey mime and mimick the by-standers and sneer at children in an old fashioned bazaar.
RELIGIOUS HARMONY: There are snapshots of the Russian diplomats riding camels for an outing. They carry large picnic hampers attired in the late 19th century's flowing and what seem now as cumbersome dresses.
The Greek Orthodox clergy, Armenian pilgrims, Jewish rabbis from Yemen and Iran and groups of young Jewish girls in festive garments with last century's plaited pig-tails with cathedrals, mosques and synagogues form the background of some of these pictures.
These reflect the religious harmony that prevailed under the Ottoman Caliphs, who were also ruling Sultans of their empire.
Arriving in Bethlehem on foot and on beasts is a caravan of Christian pilgrims, while another shows a group of skull-cap wearing Jewish scholars engrossed in study of the Talmud and also a portrait of a Muslim priest in the Fez headgear.
Several photographs are of the "Wailing Wall" taken from different angles showing young and old Jewish pilgrims slumped against it reflecting grim expressions and deep in prayer.
There is a photograph of the imposing edifice of the Jerusalem railway station and then scene of the old locomotives chugging smoke and shunting bogies. Those are about a hundred years old as the date on accompanying label is of 1905.
Relatively younger exhibits are photos of Lawrence of Arabia with the tribal chieftains, the Turkish troops entrenched in a battle against the rebels supported by the British armies and then the fall of Jerusalem in 1917.
Some of pictures have hand-written notations in Turkish written in Arabic script or in Persian language. There are some signboards or street nameplates in the two languages.
Among the buildings of the last century or the concluding years of the previous one are hotels, hospitals, forts and citadels or towers with the Turkish flag fluttering atop.
Ceremonial parades by colourfully clad Turkish soldiers in public squares or open places.
A roly-poly Pasha (a Turkish administrator) attired in the regal uniform of his office of the time and then a huge fearsome Cossack "guard of the Russian mission" with an unusually large drooping moustache and extra-baggy trousers, an enormous head-gear and a huge sword posing for the camera taken in early last century.
The collection of 1, 500 photographs is the result of a vigorous and lengthy search conducted by the current Turkish consul general at Jerusalem, Huseyin Avni Bajakli, recovered these antiques.
But the Lok Virsa museum has not been able to accommodate all of those. Still the exhibition has a representative selection from this rare and priceless album.
The exhibition will conclude on February 20 to resume its journey to New Zealand, USA, Germany and Syria.
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