Category Archives: Architecture

Images from the 19th century “Bible World”

Agriculture, Architecture, Bible and Holy Land, Egypt, Lithographs, Orientalism, Orientalist Art, Orientalist Images, Palestine, Syria

There were many books written by Christian missionaries and clergy during the 19th century. While the text itself has long since been outdated, the engravings are still fascinating to look at. The illustrations here are from an 1875 book of Bible Manners and Customs by the Methodist-Episcopal preacher James M. Freeman. It is available for free on archive.org. But there is also a brand new edition currently in press for 2021 and already noted on Amazon. I attach several of the images below the book title.

Picturing Egypt a Century Ago

Architecture, Egypt, Food and Drink, Photography, Travel
Cairo around 1920

In 1921 one of the many geographical/travel books published was the The Human Interest Library: Visualized Knowledge (Chicago: Midland Press). In volume IV there is a brief account of Egypt, mainly on the archaeological wonders. But there are several photographs that are of interest. I include the captions from the text. Unfortunately neither the date nor the photographer are indicated, but let us assume that they represent life in Egypt in the first couple of decades of the last century. There is also a summary of information about Egypt at the time, as noted below.

“An Arab Cafe: These cafes are picturesque places where one sees the street life of Cairo at its best. Note the more humble style of the Turkish pipe smoked by this Arab without being set on the floor.”
“One of the oldest forms of irrigation machinery in the world. The captive Hebrews in Mosaic times probably heard the creak of the ungreased wheels and watched the water gush forth from the pottery buckets which are fastened to the endless grass ropes.”
“Sakkahs, or Water-Carriers: These men are sometimes negroes, as the seated man in the picture, as well as the boy who has taken water to drink from him. They are usually dervishes of the lowest grade, and are sometimes inclined to be fanatical. They are picturesque as well as a very necessary feature of Egyptian life.”

The beauty of Sanaa will endure

"Arab Spring", Architecture, Photography, Sanaa, Yemen


The Sana’a Suq (market) at night. Photo: Rod Waddington/Flickr Creative Commons

The ancient treasure of Sana’a in Yemen: One of the world’s most beautiful cities is being bombed
Luke Malpass, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 1, 2015

Inhabited continuously for more than 2500 years, and connected to the civilisations of the Bible and Koran, the old city of Sana’a in Yemen is an architectural and cultural jewel.

It is also under attack, with the possibility the UNESCO World Heritage site could suffer the same fate as Syria’s Aleppo, where fierce fighting has devastated its population and cultural treasures.

Australian photographer Rod Waddington, who visited Yemen in 2013, fears a tragedy: “It would be major; it’s like what ISIS is doing in Northern Iraq, destroying all of the sights.”

Following are a selection of images from Mr Waddington and UNESCO portraying a country he describes as one of the most photogenic in the world.


A girl in Sana’a. Photo: Rod Waddington/Flickr Creative Commons

Click here for more images of Sanaa

The Floating Basket Homes of Iraq

Architecture, Folklore and Proverbs, Iraq, Photography, Travel

MessyNessy has put a page about the Marsh Arabs with some fabulous pictures. Check it out here.

It was Iraq’s ‘Garden of Eden’; unique wetlands in southern Iraq where a people known as the Ma’dan, or ‘Arabs of the marsh’, lived in a Mesopotamian Venice, characterised by beautifully elaborate floating houses made entirely of reeds harvested from the open water.