Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town
During the Mamluk period from 1250 to 1517, the use of local limestone influenced the construction of the old city of Hebron/Al-Khalil. The centerpiece of the town's attractions is the Ibrahim Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs, whose buildings are located within a courtyard built in the 1st century AD to protect the tombs of Patriarch Abraham/Ibrahim and his family. The site became a place of pilgrimage for the three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The town was located at the crossroads of trade routes that caravans traveled between southern Palestine, Sinai, eastern Jordan, and northern Arabia. Although the subsequent Ottoman period (1517-1917) marked the expansion of the town into the surrounding areas and brought a large number of architectural additions, especially raising the roof heights of houses to create more superstructures, the overall Mamluk form of the town still retained its regional hierarchy, neighborhoods based on ethnic, religious or occupational groups, and houses with room groups arranged according to a tree-like system.