Jerusalem Mosque of Omar by Felix Bonfils ca. 1870

Jerusalem Mosquee d’Omar – Jerusalem Mosque of Omar 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 (within a red circle). The picture shows the Dome of the Rock that is also called the Mosque of Omar. It was built in 691 AD by the Khalif Abd El Malik on the rocky top of Mount Moriah about 600 years after the Romans destroyed the Jewish temple. It was named after the Khalif Omar who captured Jerusalem from the Byzantine Christians in 638. In close proximity to the Dome of the Rock are three Ottoman freestanding qubbas (small domed structures) these qubbas are all single-unit buildings, their domes supported by six or eight open arches. With view looking south, to the left of the Dome of the Rock is the Dome of the Chain. To the right are the small Dome of the Prophet and the larger Dome of the Miraj. Size: 28 X 22 cm (11 x 8.5 inches). This photograph is documented in the list of Felix Bonfils Photographs ("Die Provincia Arabia"), in the Department of Rare Books, Princeton University Library, Box 19, File 9, and Photograph No. 278. (http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/brunnow.html).