City of Akko
This is a continuation of my series about Israel, see my previous posts for pictures from the cities and places that I visited in the Middle East (Petra, Jordan, Zefat, Eilat etc.)
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| Old City Walls |
Akko, or Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Israel. It is located the Western Galilee region of northern Israel and is situated at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. The city is dating back to the
time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1504-1450 BCE).
Akko is a city
of intrigue, where you can walk through labyrinthine alleys and
streets and explore the remnants of Crusader,
Muslim and Ottoman
conquerors. Walking along the walls of the city, you also get a
spectacular view of the sea and the city of Haifa.
Acre was once a leading port in the Middle East, in
the same league as Alexandria and Constantinople. Today, it is home
primarily to small fishing boats.
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| Akko Fishing Port |
A part of the kingdom of Israel, Acre
was incorporated into the empire of Alexander
the Great after his conquest in 332 B.C.E.
The city was
subsequently seized by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II, who renamed the
city Ptolemais in the 2nd century B.C.E. This name stuck until the Muslim
conquestin the 7th century CE, when its ancient name was
restored. Confusion over what to call the city was compounded by the Crusaders
conquest in 1104, after which it became known as St. Jean d'Acre, or Acre
for short.
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| Crusaders Undergroud Tunnel from the Fortress to the Sea |
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| Akko Old City Entrance |
In 1291, the Mamluks
invaded and destroyed the city, killing every remaining Crusader and
putting an end to the Latin
Kingdom. Acre ceased to be a major city for almost 500 years. When the Bedouin sheikh Daher el-Omar carved a small fiefdom out of the Ottoman
Empire in the mid-18th century, he made Acre
his capital and built a large fortress.
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| Fortress Walls |
It was subsequently fortified
by the Turkish governor (1775-1804), Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzer ("The
Butcher").
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| Al-Jazzer Mosque |
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The mosque al-Jazzer built is one of the most beautiful in Israel and the most distinctive building in the old city. King Richard I of England (1157-99), took Acre in 1191 from the Saracens. He executed 2,700 Muslim prisoners of war; nevertheless, because of his "valorous" behavior during the Crusade, he became known as Richard the Lion-Hearted.
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| Napoleon Mountain in Akko, with the silhouetted sculpture |
Napoleon landed in Palestine and assaulted Acre in 1799, but he was unable to take the city. His Middle Eastern campaign subsequently collapsed and he withdrew to France.
Acre
fell under Ottoman control until the Turks were defeated in 1918 by the
British. The city subsequently became part of the British
Mandate for Palestine. The British used the ancient fortress,
which had never been breached, as a high-security prison to hold (and
execute) members of the various Jewish
underground groups.
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| Acre Prison Break Monument | | | | | | | |
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On May 4, 1947, members of the Irgun
staged a dramatic rescue(dramatized in the film
Exodus). Though few Jews escaped, the audacity of the raid was a serious blow to British prestige and a
tremendous boost for the morale of the Jews. Today, the fort is the
site of the Underground Prisoners Memorial Museum, which depicts the
history of Acre and the prison.
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| Gallows |
You can go into the death cell where the condemned were kept and the gallows where a noose still hangs above an open trap door.
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| Prison Walls |
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| Prison Stairs |
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| Prison View Inside |
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| View From the Prison Window on the Fortress |
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| Prison Door |
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| Prison Corridors |
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| View of the Fortress Walls |
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| Courtyard View From the Cell |
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| City View from the Cell |
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| Cell Inside |
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| Prisoners Walking in the Courtyard |
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| Cell with Candles |
On May 17, 1948, shortly after the Arab invasion,
Israeli troops took control of Acre and most of the Arab inhabitants fled. It was subsequently incorporated into Israel after the War
of Independence.
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| Khan El Umdan |
Check out Khan El Umdan, the 18th century structure
where camel caravans once brought grain and produce from Galilee to
the market. The name means "inn of the pillars," for the
fine granite Herodian pillars brought from Caesarea to support the
structure. The clock tower is a much later addition, built in 1906 in
honor of the Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid.
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| Clock Tower |
Across
from the mosque is the entrance to the subterranean Crusader
city. You can walk down to different levels and see how the Turks
built on top of the old city.
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| Knights' Halls |
One of the more spectacular rooms is the
Knights' Halls, which the Hospitallers, the Order of the Knights of St. John, used as a fortress more than 700 years ago. Today, the main hall is used for concerts.
The lowest level is the Crypt, a great hall that may have been used for great
ceremonies by the Crusaders.
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| Crusaders' Tunnel |
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| Baha'i Gardens Entrance |
Elsewhere in the city is the home of Baha Allah,
the prophet of the Baha'i faith. His tomb is in a park just outside of town along the Acre-Nahariya road. As in the headquarters in Haifa, the grounds have spectacular
gardens.
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| Baha'i Gardens |
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| Baha'i Gardens |
Today, the population of Acre is approximately
40,000 and has one of the higher proportions of non-Jews of any of
Israel's cities, with roughly 25 percent Christians, Muslims, Druze and Baha'is. The city is a magnet for tourists and the home of the
country's steel industry.
We visited this city twice, in April 2009 and in April 2010, and all the pictures were taken during those visits.
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| Mosque View |
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| City Street |
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| Akko Seafront |
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| Mediterranean Sunset |
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| Fisherman at the Akko Wall |
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| Bazaar at the Seafront |
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Watering Fruits - a street vendor trying to keep fruit fresh under
the pitiless sun. The lighthouse is seen in the background. |
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| Old Church in Akko |
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| Internet Cafe in Akko |
All the pictures are Copyrighted by the blog owner.
The information about the city of Akko was taken from the website http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Acco.html
Photos are excellent. The text is not translated, but in the process.
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