This is part three about my walk around Akká, more commonly known as Acre here in Israel. Akká goes back to the Early Bronze period, about 3000 BCE and is listed as a World Heritage site. Akká has seen many periods during it's history, including Greek, Judean, Roman-Byzantine, Islamic (Palestine), Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, British rule, and finally in 1948 it was captured by Israel and became part of the State.
My friend and I casually walked around without much of a plan other than exploring whatever caught our attention. Looking through my photos afterwards, I thought it was interesting that we stopped at two different houses of worship, a
Mosque and a
Church. It would have been nice to have visited a synagogue, which would represent three ancient major religions in the East and illustrates how close all three religious communities exist together.
Our first stop was the Masjid Al-Muallaq Mosque which was built during the Ottoman Era, in 1758, in the courtyard over where an ancient synagogue used to be.
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| Entry directly from the street |
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| Ablutions before entering the inner room |
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| Entry to the inner room. I was required to wear a head covering. It was very dark inside. |
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| Exit to the street, same door |
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| The minaret tower where I could hear the call to prayer by the muezzin while walking around |
St. George's Church, our second location, was just a street or two away. I found a really nice website that has some great photos as well as additional information about the church. I've added the link below.
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| Entrance to St. George a Greek Orthodox Church |
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| Design inlaid on the floor. I don't know what it might signify. |
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| Main courtyard area. I did follow the staircase up (in the background) and found rooms that might be offices. |
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| I like doors...and I loved the simplicity of this cross. |
See Biblewalks for more about St. George's Church.
For information about Akká walking tours or just to get an idea of Akká in a historical sense, visit "The secrets of the city above and the city below".
