Félix Bonfils
1870s
Worshippers near the wall [Palestine, Jerusalem]

Albumen print
Russian Museum of Ethnography
Number: ??? 8764-22341
 
Curatorial description (Accessed: 6 August 2021)
Group of worshippers praying to the Almighty and weeping about the Temple's destruction near Kotel Maaravi, “Western Wall,” the surviving part of the wall that surrounded the Temple Mount. By 1880, Jerusalem became the largest city in the country with about 25,000 residents, Jews making over one half of them.
 
Photographer Felix Bonfils (1831-1885) was one of the first French photographers to work in the Middle East. Finding himself in military service in Lebanon in 1860, in 1867 he decided to settle with his family in Beirut and opened his studio "Maison Bonfils". Photos and albums were very popular with wealthy locals and travelers, thanks to which “Maison Bonfils” became famous all over the world.
 
The photograph was acquired in1883 during the round-the-world voyage of Russian seamen in 1880-1883.
 
LL/112563