Item 01: George R. Faulkner war diary, 1 February-14 March 1916 - Page 50

[Page 50]

Mosque, once a year they commemorate the Sacrifice of Abraham, by offering 8 sheep and one child, here can also be seen wonderful works of art & carving – great heavy doors – inlaid with gold & silver. Napoleon bombarded this place & cannon balls are seen still stuck some six inches in the wall, he took away all the doors excepting one, which still stands. Lord Kitchener has renovated it in parts just to show visitors what it used to look like – quarters are also provided for the women to worship in apart from the men, here can be seen dovetailed arches of marble over the door, very fine work, the man that done this work had his hand cut off, so as that he could not put similar work in any other church. Rumour has it & the marble shows where marble has been knocked to prove a bet between an Englishman & an American of some £14,000 as to whether the dovetailing was a fake, it proved genuine & the American paid the amount