| At the Fountain |
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Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent restored Jerusalem's water supply system. Water fountains (sabils) were built in eight locations within the city, providing water for the residents and visitors of Jerusalem for generations. |
| Setting of a fountain built by Sultan Suleiman. Around it are a variety of characters typical of Jerusalem in the 19th century. |
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| Suleiman the Magnificent |
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When the Ottoman Turks conquered Jerusalem from the Mamluks (1517), they found its walls in ruin. Sultan Suleiman subsequently ordered the construction of a defensive wall around the city and the repair of the Dome of the Rock. The shrine's old mosaics were replaced by ceramic tiles in the Ottoman artistic tradition. |
| A painting showing the building of the city wall. The painting is based on an illustration in a 17th-century manuscript (detail). |
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| Printing presses and newspapers in Jerusalem |
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By the first half of the 19th century, the Armenian, Franciscan and Greek Orthodox communities already had their own printing presses in Jerusalem, publishing religious works, educational material and accounts of pilgrimages. |
| In 1841, the Hassidic rabbi Israel Bak opened the first Hebrew printing press. It was not until some twenty years later that a rival religious group opened its own. By the eve of the First World War, thirteen Hebrew printing presses were operating in the city. |
| Model of the English printing press that Moses Montefiore sent to Israel Bak (1841). |
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| Transportation and modernization |
Photograph of the
Jaffa Gate plaza (c.1900). |
Until the 1860s, camels, donkeys and horses provided transportation to and from Jerusalem. In 1867, the Ottomans completed the highway between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean port town of Jaffa, and large numbers of wagons and carriages began traveling the route. Two decades later, work began on a railway line linking the two cities: it was dedicated in 1892. |
