November 21th – Haifa in the Ottoman time – Haifa, Israel

November 21th, 2014
Haifa, Israel
Hi,
I joined a tour of Haifa in the Ottoman time (The Ottoman Empire ruled Haifa between 1517-1917).

The people that organized the tour, were the people that organized most of the best tours I been to: “Amitim Latiyulim” (friends for hiking).

I know it sounds like I am trying to sell you those tours for the next time you’ll come, that why am telling you I am not . First – they talk in Hebrew, Second – they don’t charge money =).

They invest their time in reading and organizing those hikes. Most of the hikes are in the west bank, where you sometimes need a weapon or a approval from the IDF and it is hard to hike alone. That is why I joined them in the first place =). But they also organizing those city hike, which are not less enjoyable =)

Take Care
Gad

The tour route (not accurate). [by Amit Horen]

Gathering in Kiryat-Eliezer neighborhood in Haifa.

The  from World War I (not part of Haifa in the Ottoman time, but we had to walk through it =)

The sign to the Temple Society cemetery. The Templers arrived to Haifa in 1866, and were sent out during the Second World War.

The Templers cemetery. There are no longer Templers in Israel, the Templers community of USA and Australia finance the maintenance of the cemetery.

The tomb of A monument for the German soldiers how died during World War I.

A monument for the Templers settlement who were left behind in 1948.

The road and the railway are passing over an old Jewish cemetery. Because the Kohens cannot pass in a Jewish cemetery, a bridge had to built over it.

The tunnel to let the Kohens pass the road.

Haifa Modern Port.

The rest of the Jewish cemetery and a tomb that became sacred during the time of Avdimi of Haifa

The main street of the German Colony in Haifa. Today the housed are used for restaurants and coffee- houses. Above it are the Bahá’í World Centre.

House No. 12 in the German Colony, The Schumacher House and house no. 16 – Laurence Oliphant house.

Some of the houses of lower part of the Bahá’í World Center.

The main street of the Ottoman city of Haifa.

The building of the Anglo-Palestine Bank. The right part is from the Ottoman time. During the first World War, the Ottoman austerities tried to take the cash in the bank, but the manager manage to postpone them. After the British Army conquered Jaffa and Jerusalem, and of the fear the cash money that was left in the bank will lose its value, the bank purchased lands in the Carmel. Those lands were later used to build neighborhoods for the new immigrants to the state of Israel.

Paris square (Previously Hamara square) – used to be the central station for wagons (that called Hantorot) Later it became the Central bus station. During the Ottoman time, this used to be Christian part of the city and it was surrounded with 4 churches.

The Marron church of Saint Louis, one of the two churches left around Paris square

The Church of Elijah the prophet, second of the two churches left around Paris square

Shivat Zion Street that marks the end of Haifa in the Ottoman time. Along it run the outer wall of the city. Above it, where now is the Memorial Garden and Municipality of Haifa used to stood a fort that was called “El-Borj” (The Tower).

“Hadrat Kodesh” Synagogue – by the tradition Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Said a pray here in Rosh Hashana of 1798. There is a problem with this tradition, because the synagogue is outside the walls of the Ottoman city (that mean that probably it didn’t exist back then)

One of the oldest synagogues in Israel. It might be the synagogue that Rabbi Nachman of Breslov prayed in, during in visit to Israel in 1798.

The Church of our Lady.

House of Grace (rehabilitation discharged prisoners institution) inside the Church of our Lady

Al-Jarina mosque, Named after the Threshing floor (“Goren”) that was near it. Built in the end of the 18th century, it was the center of the Muslim population. The Minaret was destroyed in 1948. The Tower is a watch tower that was built in the end of the 19th century as one of an hundred watch towers around the Ottoman Empire for 25th year of Abdul Hamid II regime. The mosque was built on the fourth church of Ottoman Haifa.

The small mosque, built around 1750 at the heart of the Muslim quarter and served as many years as walled Haifa’s main mosque. It is the last remain of Daher el-Omer era. It is renovated and preserved in the 1980’s, but isn’t active.

The outer wall of the Ottoman city run along that street. The far buildings, were the first buildings out of the city. The wall was destroyed by Israel Government after 1949.

The Palace of Mostafa Pasha Al-Halil (Fourth Mayor of Haifa, between 1885-1903). The first building outside the walls of Haifa

The Bathhouse (Hamam) built by Mostafa Pasha Al-Halil, near his Palace. It’s been renovated to be a art gallery

The main street of the first Jewish Neighborhood outside the walls “Harat Al-Yahud”

The first train station in Haifa (Haifa East train station), built in 1904 as the last station of Jezreel Valley railway. Today it is used as museum for the history of trains in Israel.

The full train building (Source:  he.shimoor.com)