The Village of Silwan Jerusalem Photo by Bonfils Vue Générale de Siloé c 1890

Vue générale de Siloé - General view of the village of Silwan c 1890 number 315. 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 western slope of Mount of Olives with the village of Silwan nestled among its curves. The valley is the valley of Kidron. The left most structure with flat roof and only door is called Pharaoh's daughter's Tomb. It is a tomb with Egyptian features from the 8/7th centuries BCE. Below this on the mountain small grave stones of the Jewish cemetery can be seen. To the right along a small cliff face and below the houses, small windows are carved in to the stone. These are caver -tomb entrances. These tombs are most likely from the Roman Empire period and are Jewish.
This photograph is documented in the list of Felix Bonfils Photographs , in the Department of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, Box 6, folder 11. (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.