Tower of David Photo by Bonfils Tour de David Jerusalem

Tour de David .--Tower of David and Hippicus by Felix Bonfils ca. 1870. This is an original vintage Albumen print on a thin sheet of paper with sepia color and slightly glossy surface, signed in the negative The picture showes the main entrance to the citadel. On the right is the tower of Hippicus built by King Herod (at the end of the 1st century BCE), as part of the citadel fortifications. According to Josephus Flavius, Herod added three huge towers which rose high over the city: Phasael (after Herod’s brother), Hippicus (after Herod’s friend) and Mariamne (after Herod’s Hasmonean wife), only one of them has survived to the present day as part of the tower of David. Size: 28 X 22 cm (11 x 8.5 inches). This photograph is documented in the list of Felix Bonfils Photographs in the Department of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, Box 16, Ffolder 18, and Photograph No. 251. (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