Valley of Jehosaphat and the Absalom Monument Jerusalem. Photo by Bonfils Vallée de Josaphat

Vallée de Josaphat, by Felix Bonfils ca. 1870. Photo number 290. This is an original vintage Albumen print on a thin sheet of paper with sepia color and slightly glossy surface, signed in the negative, showing the northen entrance to the valley of Jehosaphat, or Kidron Valley. The road on the left is the road to Jerico which passes through Betheny. Above and below the road many tombstoens are visible. This is the Jewish cemetry on Mount of Olives. The monument in the middle is called Absalom's Tomb after king David's son. There are various monuments of this sort in the valley all dating from the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE. This photograph is documented in the list of Felix Bonfils Photographs in the Department of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, Box 6, folder 15. (http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?id=ark:/88435/sj1391972#series1subseriesE). The prolific photographer Félix Bonfils was born on 8 March 1831 in France. In 1867 he moved to Beirut with his wife Lydie (b. 1837), and son Adrien (b. 1861) and set up a photographic studio. Bonfils published many albums focusing on specific regions or themes from various sites along the eastern Mediterranean. Bonfils died in 1885.