"Ottoman Nostalgy" a Akko Travel Page by traveloturc

The city’s fascinating historical heritage, a rare blend of East and West, authentic sights from the past, a unique meeting place of art and religion alongside the remains of various cultures – all these have made Acre one of the most important cities of the ancient world.The city is under the Unesco world heritage plans
The walls of the city, its fortresses and citadels, its churches and mosques and the other buildings within its boundaries, tell the history of the many rulers who governed it and fought for it, who built the city and glorified it.
Acre’s most prominent sites include ruins from the Hellenistic-Roman period and buildings from the Crusader and Ottoman periods: Al Jazar Mosque, the buildings of the Order of Saint John, the subterranean Crusader city, Khan Al Omdan, the Turkish Baths (which now house the municipal museum), the Bahai Temple and more.
In Acre ( Akko) you will be able to see the fingerprints of many peoples and religious movements: the Canaanites, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Mamelukes, the Turks and the British.

The Ottomans under Sultan Selim I captured the city in 1517.Towards the end of the 18th century it revived under the rule of Tahir al-Omar, the local sheikh: his successor, Jezzar Ahmet Pasha(The Butcher), governor of Damascus, improved and fortified it, but by heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780 Jezzar Ahmet peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul.In 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March–May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on 20 March 1799, using only his infantry and small-caliber cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on May 21.