The Very First Picture Of Kaaba, Captured In 1880s

This is one of the earliest and the first picture of Kaaba to be captured.

It was shot by an Egyptian engineer cum photographer Sadiq Bey. He made his journey to the cities of Mecca and Madina in 1880 and subsequently in 1861.

The above picture shows the inside view of Masjid al-Haram with people surrounding the Kaaba supposedly doing Tawaf.

A small gate and a Minaar like structure can also be seen beside the Kaaba.

100+ years old photos:

Nowadays, a simple search with "Oldest picture of Kaaba" will yield a countless of beautiful pictures of the Islamic holiest site.

But here, I will take you 140 years back to the two Islamic holy cities through the lenses of photographers, Sadiq Bey and Abd Al-Ghaffar (a Meccan doctor).

Both have been recorded among the first photographers in the history.

First Picture Of Kaaba:

Panoramic view of the Kaaba in the city of Mecca captured by Sadiq Bey in 1880.

This picture of Kaaba shot from a different angle than the first is also among the earliest pictures captured by Abd Al-Ghaffar. 

Compare the above two first pictures of Kaaba with this latest beautiful picture more or less shot from the same angle.

First Picture Of The City Of Madina:

The first picture of the city of Madina and the Prophet's Mosque captured by Mohammad Sadiq Bey.

This photograph dates back to 1881 taken from the city's arsenal.

Compare the above with this recent beautiful picture of the Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in the city of Medina more or less taken from the same angle as the first one.

Camera used to capture these photographs.

According to sources, Mohammad Sadiq Bey used a device called Wet-plate Collodion Camera invented in the 1850s.

That camera used glass plate as negatives to capture these photographs.

Sadiq Bey on capturing the first-ever picture of the holiest sites said:

I took a picture (rasm) of al-Madina al-Munawwara with the light-rays instrument which is called photography, with the cupola over the grave of the Prophet Muhammad, and I took a point from where I had a view over Medina from the roof of the arsenal (Tupkhana), as I considered to be suitable as it allowed me (to take) part of the residential part(al-Manakha) also. I took the noble cupola from inside the mosque, also with the said instrument. No one had done this before me at all.

Reference: All the pictures except the recent one have been sourced from the book named "Mecca's First Photographers" which is available as pdf and can be downloaded from here. The source of the statement quoted above can be found in the same book. alert-success