Bethlehem Women

In different ways they reflect the ways in which these photographers romanticised and fetishised Bethlehem women. It was a common trope in travel accounts written by European and North American men to emphasise how beautiful the women in Bethlehem were.

Many of the photographs here are re-enactments of biblical scenes, confirming the extent to which Bethlehem women were scene through a specifically western biblical lens. This collection is part of the Library of Congress project within the Planet Bethlehem Archive (click on the Related Project link below to access the whole project).