Few places have gone through as many changes as Jerusalem. As the holy city of every Abrahamic religion, it has been the site of wars and conquests for centuries. It passed through the hands of countless kingdoms and countless people — and gone through massive changes each time.

The last great change happened in 1948, upon the foundation of Israel. Since then, Jerusalem has been claimed by both Israel and Palestine. It is a city split in half, divided between Muslims and Jews, in the center of a war that has raged on for decades.

Before Israel, however, the old Jerusalem was a very different place. For hundreds of years before the state of Israel was formed, Jerusalem was an Arab city. It spent hundreds of years under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, as a city distinctly filled with that empire’s people and culture.

[Read the full article at All That Is Interesting.]