Four photographs by Peter Bergheim, including two depicting worshippers in the Western Wall plaza, c. 1870s. All signed in the plate: P. Bergheim.
Early photographs of the Western Wall by the Jewish-German photographer Peter Bergheim (1813–1895). Signed in the plate: “P. Bergheim, Jerusalem.” On the reverse of each photograph, an additional image is mounted – one of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and one of the Dung Gate.
Peter Melville Bergheim [1813–1890] was among the first photographers active in Jerusalem in the 19th century and a pioneer of photography in the Land of Israel. Born in Germany, he settled in Jerusalem in the 1850s and worked in the service of researchers from the British Palestine Exploration Fund. Bergheim documented landscapes, holy sites, and local figures. He also engaged in stereoscopic photography, and a series of his photographs was distributed in America by Burton Holmes of New York.
Photograph dimensions: 30×24 cm. Minor staining at the margins. Good condition.
