Friday, September 20, 2013

Beer Sheva's old mosque, a museum for now

.
Mazal tov to James on the 4th anniversary of his Weekend Reflections meme!


Here is the minaret and dome of Beer Sheva's historic mosque.
It was built in 1907, in the Ottoman era.
 When the town was conquered in 1948 by Jewish forces, in Israel's War for Independence,  the mosque was left standing.
Today the building serves as a museum of the city's  history.


 The mosque is reflected in the glass entrance of the Negev Museum of Art which is just across the courtyard.
.

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful reflective photos of a special place ~ carol

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful photos. Thank you for taking em to a place I've never been.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like the way the window panes make the reflection look like a puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a beautiful place to catch some reflections... I like it !

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have been to Beersheba a couple of times since the museum opened in the 1950s, but I didn't see the mosque. Is it worth making a special trip to see the architecture? And the historical artefacts?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hels, as you know, I just moved to the Negev and I have a lot to learn about Beersheva. I see from newspaper articles such as
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4086545,00.html
    that there is controversy about the mosque.

    The exhibitions in the mosque change often. No photography allowed, boo!
    What I saw was the history of Beersheva from Ottoman times onward. Lots of videos and old photos and documents and models of Aussie soldiers and their actual cavalry equipment.
    The mosque itself is not spectacular.
    But you should come down to Beersheva to see the new Park of the Australian Soldier! (I've not been inside yet.)
    About architecture--here is an article about "Move afoot to brand the southern city the 'gray city' for its raw concrete buildings from the '50s and '60s" at
    http://www.haaretz.com/culture/be-er-sheva-the-capital-of-brutalism.premium-1.501982

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is an excellent reflection, Dina. I'm glad they didn't destroy the minaret since it is part of the history of the area.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful reflection. Have you been in the museum as well?

    ReplyDelete
  9. wonderful photos...beautiful architecture...

    ReplyDelete


Thanks for your comment!
Comment moderation is on so I will see any new comments even on older posts!