Jerusalem Through the Lens of Bonfils
When Félix Bonfils pointed his camera at Jerusalem in the 1870s and 1880s, he was capturing a city that had existed largely unchanged for centuries. The Ottoman walls, the golden dome of the Qubbat al-Sakhra, the ancient olive groves of the Mount of Olives — all were part of a living, breathing city that had been home to Palestinians, pilgrims and traders for generations.
These photographs are among the earliest visual records of Jerusalem ever made. They show a city of extraordinary beauty and layered history — a place that belonged, above all, to the people who lived there.
