Libyan Jigsaw Puzzle

The photo you're seeing below is taken inside the hotel we visited in Old City during this past weekend. This is an original piece that is being restored by hand by members of the tripoli art college. This piece was created with the founding of the hotel to commemorate why this hotel was built.

The place where this hotel was erected in the early 1800's is near the northern gate of Old City, about 30 feet away from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius. (If you look closely at the painting, behing the lamp on the wall, you can see that the arch's position was included in the actual tile work. That is the south-eastern tip of the Arch depicted below.)

The hotel was placed here because this was the best gathering place in Tripoli, then called Tarabulus, for merchants. Traders and caravans from the Southern Sahara, Egpyt to the east, Chad to the west, and hundreds of other locations throughout Africa met here all throughout the year to trade. This was the centralmost point for negotiations. Later photos will depict more of the interior to show you what it was like here.