100-year-old rare pictures of Mecca and Medina exhibited in Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The exhibition titled “Haramein, Mecca al-Mukarramah and Madina al-Munawwara during the Ottoman period" was organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). The photographs displayed were selected from different collections of IRCICA's archive, mainly from the Yıldız Albums dating from the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II (late 19th-early 20th centuries) and the collection of Fahrettin Türkkan Pasha, the Commander of the Ottoman forces in Hejaz and Defender of Medina during World War I. All of the photographs are related to a wide range of aspects of Mecca and Medina, including infrastructural and construction activities, maintenance of sacred structures, public services, as well as sacred monuments and locations.
