Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
An exhibition of rare 1885 photographs that capture Mecca in a past is on in Dubai. Dutchman Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje took the images on wax cylinders then newly invented by Thomas Edison.
We took some of the shots taken by Snouck and assessed the transformation of the holiest place on earth for Muslims.
This image of the Kaaba -- a building known to Muslims as the holiest place on earth -- taken from a hillside is barely recognisable.
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
Image: Another view of the big mosque during a samalat
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
Image: Snouck's photograph of Mecca in 1885
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
Image: Snouck's photo on the tomb of Sittana Maimuna, the wife of the Prophet, during the Haj
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
Image: View on the eastern part of the Mina valley during the Haj
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Ali Jarekji/Reuters
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar
Al-Ghaffar continued sending his images to Snouck in The Netherlands. Many of the photographs were originally credited solely to Snouck but they are now jointly credited, with experts unable to tell who shot what.
The images, archived by Leiden University Library, were published four years after Snouck's trip. Original copies of the album now sell for about $45,000, according to the gallery.
Image: View on Muzdalifa, the Haj stop-over place between Mina valley and Mt Arafat
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Haj THEN and NOW: 125 years apart
Photographs: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters
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