Dome of the Rock
Template:Short description Template:Pp-30-500 Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox religious building The Dome of the Rock (Template:Langx) is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is the world's oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture, the earliest archaeologically attested religious structure to be built by a Muslim ruler and its inscriptions contain the earliest epigraphic proclamations of Islam and of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.Template:Sfn<ref name="George 2010 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>
Its initial construction was undertaken by the Umayyad Caliphate on the orders of Abd al-Malik during the Second Fitna in 691–692 CE, and it has since been situated on top of the site of the Second Jewish Temple (built in Template:Circa to replace the destroyed Solomon's Temple and rebuilt by Herod the Great), which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The original dome collapsed in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022–23.
Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces.<ref name="avner43">Template:Cite book</ref> Its outside appearance was significantly changed during the Early Ottoman period, when brightly coloured, mainly blue-and-white Iznik-style tiles were applied to the exterior,Template:Sfn<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> and again in the modern period, notably with the addition of the gold-plated roof, in 1959–61 and again in 1993. The octagonal plan of the structure may have been influenced by the Byzantine-era Church of the Seat of Mary (also known as Kathisma in Greek and al-Qadismu in Arabic), which was built between 451 and 458 on the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.<ref name=avner43/>
The Foundation Stone (or Noble Rock) that the temple was built over bears great significance in the Abrahamic religions as the place where God created the world as well as the first human, Adam.<ref name="Delaney">Carol Delaney, Abraham on Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth, Princeton University Press 2000 p.120.</ref> It is also believed to be the site where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son, and as the place where God's divine presence is manifested more than in any other place, towards which Jews turn during prayer. The site's great significance for Muslims derives from traditions connecting it to the creation of the world and the belief that the Night Journey of Muhammad began from the rock at the centre of the structure.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Rabbat>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, it has been called "Jerusalem's most recognizable landmark"<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> along with two nearby Old City structures: the Western Wall and the "Resurrection Rotunda" in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its Islamic inscriptions proved to be a milestone, as afterward they became a common feature in Islamic structures and almost always mention Muhammad.Template:Sfn The Dome of the Rock remains a "unique monument of Islamic culture in almost all respects", including as a "work of art and as a cultural and pious document", according to art historian Oleg Grabar.Template:Sfn
Architecture
[edit]Structure
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The Dome of the Rock's basic plan is essentially octagonal. It is capped at its center by a dome, approximately Template:Cvt in diameter, mounted on an elevated circular drum standing on 16 supports (4 piers and 12 columns).<ref name=BRIT/> Surrounding this circle is an octagonal arcade of 24 piers and columns.<ref>Template:Usurped. Glass Steel and Stone.</ref> The inner circular row of drum supports and the octagonal arcade create an inner ambulatory that encircles the holy rock. The outer walls are also octagonal. They each measure approximately Template:Cvt wide and Template:Cvt high.<ref name=BRIT /> The inner and outer octagon create a second, outer ambulatorium surrounding the inner one. Both the circular drum and the exterior walls contain many windows.<ref name=BRIT />
Interior decoration
[edit]The interior of the dome is lavishly decorated with mosaic, faience and marble, much of which was added several centuries after its completion. The inner colonnade features Template:Transliteration light and dark stone voussoirs in its arches.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0522">Template:Cite book</ref> The origins of these marble treatments are controversial, with some scholars theorizing them to be from the original construction, and some saying they were later additions (and differing then as to the dates and identity of the builders).<ref name="Allen">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
It also contains Qur'anic inscriptions. They vary from today's standard text (mainly changes from the first to the third person) and are mixed with pious inscriptions not in the Quran.<ref name=RSEQ>Robert Schick, Archaeology and the Quran, Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an</ref> The dedicatory inscription in Kufic script placed around the dome contains the date believed to be the year the Dome was first completed, AH 72 (691/2 CE), while the name of the corresponding caliph and builder of the Dome, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, was deleted and replaced by the name of Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun (Template:Reign) during whose reign renovations took place.
Exterior decoration
[edit]The decoration of the outer walls went through two major phases: the initial Umayyad scheme comprised marble and mosaics, much like the interior walls.<ref name=ArchnetMain/> 16th-century Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent replaced it with Ottoman tile decoration.<ref name=ArchnetMain/> This tilework was of many different styles and techniques, including cuerda seca tiles, multi-coloured underglaze tiles, and blue-and-white tilework,<ref name=":0" /> resembling the Iznik tiles that were produced for the Ottoman capital.Template:Sfn A small number of tiles were actual Iznik productions that were imported to Jerusalem.Template:Sfn The original tiles were replaced in the 1960s with faithful copies produced in Italy.<ref name=ArchnetMain>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Transliteration (the 'Heart of the Quran') is inscribed across the top of the tile work and was commissioned in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent.<ref>Palestine: Masjid al-Aqsa:The Dome of the Rock Template:Webarchive, at IslamicLandmarks.com, accessed 18 February 2019</ref> Template:Transliteration 17, Template:Transliteration, which tells the story of the Template:Transliteration or Night Journey, is inscribed above this.
History
[edit]Pre-Islamic background
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The Dome of the Rock is situated in the center of the Temple Mount, the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Jewish Temple, which had been greatly expanded under Herod the Great in the 1st century BCE. Herod's Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans, and after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, a Roman temple to Template:Lang was built at the site by Emperor Hadrian.<ref>Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aelia Capitolina". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 256. Lester L. Grabbe (2010). An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus. A&C Black. p. 29.</ref>
Jerusalem was ruled by the Byzantine Empire throughout the 4th to 6th centuries. During this time, Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem began to develop.<ref>Davidson, Linda Kay and David Martin Gitlitz Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland : an Encyclopedia Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, Inc, Santa Barbara, CA 2002, p. 274.</ref> The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built under Constantine in the 320s, but the Temple Mount was left undeveloped after a failed project of restoration of the Jewish Temple under Emperor Julian.<ref>"Julian thought to rebuild at an extravagant expense the proud Temple once at Jerusalem, and committed this task to Alypius of Antioch. Alypius set vigorously to work, and was seconded by the governor of the province, when fearful balls of fire, breaking out near the foundations, continued their attacks, till the workmen, after repeated scorchings, could approach no more: and he gave up the attempt." Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 23.1.2–3.</ref>
In 638 CE, Byzantine Jerusalem was conquered by the Arab armies of Umar ibn al-Khattab,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> second Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. Umar was advised by Ka'b al-Ahbar, a Jewish rabbi who converted to Islam,<ref>Yakub of Syria (Ka'b al-Ahbar) Last Jewish Attempt at Islamic Leadership Committee for Historical Research in Islam and Judaism, © 2004–2012, accessed July 2013. Template:Webarchive "He continued to follow Rabbinic tradition such that later Islamic historians questioned whether he ever 'converted' to Islam."</ref> that the site is identical with the site of the former Jewish Temples in Jerusalem.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Among the first Muslims, Jerusalem was referred to as Template:Transliteration ('City of the Temple').<ref>Ben-Dov, M. Historical Atlas of Jerusalem. Translated by David Louvish. New York: Continuum, 2002, p. 171</ref>
Umayyads
[edit]Original construction
[edit]The initial octagonal structure of the Dome of the Rock and its round wooden dome had basically the same shape as it does today.<ref name=BRIT>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> It was built by the order of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (Template:Reign).Template:Sfn According to Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (1185–1256), construction started in 685/6, while al-Suyuti (1445–1505) holds that its commencement year was 688.Template:Sfn A dedicatory inscription in Kufic script is preserved inside the dome. The date is recorded as AH 72 (691/2 CE), the year most historians believe the construction of the original Dome was completed.Template:Sfn An alternative interpretation of the inscription claims that it indicates the year when construction started.<ref name="Blair">Sheila Blair, "What Is The Date Of The Dome Of The Rock?" in J. Raby & J. Johns (ed.), "Bayt Al-Maqdis: 'Abd al-Malik's Jerusalem", 1992, Part 1, Oxford University Press: Oxford (UK), pp. 59-87.</ref> In this inscription, the name of "al-Malik" was removed and replaced by the name of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (Template:Reign). This alteration of the original inscription was first noted by Melchior de Vogüé in 1864.Template:Sfn Some scholars have suggested that the dome was added to an existing building, built either by Muawiyah I (Template:Reign),<ref>Oleg Grabar: The Meaning of the Dome of the Rock.</ref> or indeed a Byzantine building dating to before the Muslim conquest, built under Heraclius (Template:Reign).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Dome of the Rock's architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces.<ref name="avner43" /> The supervisor and engineer in charge of the project were Raja ibn Haywa, Yazid ibn Salam, and the latter's son Baha.Template:Sfn<ref name="avner43" /><ref name="EttinghausenGrabarJenkins20">Template:Cite book</ref> Raja was a Muslim theologian and native of Beisan, and Yazid and Baha were Template:Transliteration (non-Arab, Muslim converts; clients) of Abd al-Malik from Jerusalem. Abd al-Malik was represented in the supervision of the construction by his son Sa'id al-Khayr.Template:Sfn The Caliph employed expert works from across his domain, at the time restricted to Syria and Egypt,Template:Sfn who were presumably Christians.<ref name="EttinghausenGrabarJenkins20"/> Construction cost was reportedly seven times the yearly tax income of Egypt.Template:Sfn The historian K. A. C. Creswell noted that those who built the shrine used the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The diameter of the dome of the shrine is Template:Cvt and its height Template:Cvt, while the diameter of the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is Template:Cvt and its height Template:Cvt.
Motivations for construction
[edit]Narratives by the medieval sources about Abd al-Malik's motivations in building the Dome of the Rock vary.Template:Sfn At the time of its construction, the Caliph was engaged in war with Christian Byzantium and its Syrian Christian allies on the one hand and with the rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, who controlled Mecca, the annual destination of Muslim pilgrimage, on the other hand.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Thus, one series of explanations was that Abd al-Malik intended for the Dome of the Rock to be a religious monument of victory over the Christians that would distinguish Islam's uniqueness within the common Abrahamic religious setting of Jerusalem, home of the two older Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The historian Shelomo Dov Goitein has argued that the Dome of the Rock was intended to compete with the many fine buildings of worship of other religions: "The very form of a rotunda, given to the Template:Transliteration, although it was foreign to Islam, was destined to rival the many Christian domes"<ref name=SDG>Template:Cite journal</ref> - and more specifically, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, according to others.<ref name= Sonn229>Template:Cite book</ref>
The other main explanation holds that Abd al-Malik, in the heat of the war with Ibn al-Zubayr, sought to build the structure to divert the focus of the Muslims in his realm from the Ka'aba in Mecca, where Ibn al-Zubayr would publicly condemn the Umayyads during the annual pilgrimage to the sanctuary.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Though most modern historians dismiss the latter account as a product of anti-Umayyad propaganda in the traditional Muslim sources and doubt that Abd al-Malik would attempt to alter the sacred Muslim requirement of fulfilling the pilgrimage to the Ka'aba, other historians concede that this cannot be conclusively dismissed.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Abbasids and Fatimids
[edit]The building was severely damaged by earthquakes in 808 and again in 846.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The dome collapsed in an earthquake in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022–1023. The mosaics on the drum were repaired in 1027–1028.Template:Sfn The earthquake of 1033 resulted in the introduction of wooden beams to enforce the dome.<ref name= archpark>Template:Cite web</ref>
Crusaders
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For centuries Christian pilgrims were able to come and experience the Temple Mount, but escalating violence against pilgrims to Jerusalem (Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who ordered the destruction of the Holy Sepulchre, was an example) resulted in the Crusades.<ref>Stark, Rodney. God's Battalions; a Case for the Crusades. HarperCollins, NY, 2009, pp. 84–85.</ref> The Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099 and the Dome of the Rock was given to the Augustinians, who turned it into a church, while the nearby Al-Aqsa main prayer hall or Qibli Mosque first became a royal palace for a while, and then for much of the 12th century the headquarters of the Knights Templar. The Templars, active from Template:Circa, identified the Dome of the Rock as the site of the Temple of Solomon.Template:Clarify The Template:Lang, as they called the Dome of the Rock, featured on the official seals of the Order's Grand Masters (such as Everard des Barres and Renaud de Vichiers), and soon became the architectural model for round Templar churches across Europe.<ref>The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance, Jacob Burckhardt, Peter Murray, James C. Palmes, University of Chicago Press, 1986, p. 81</ref>
Ayyubids and Mamluks
[edit]Template:Unreferenced section Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on 2 October 1187, and the Dome of the Rock was reconsecrated as a Muslim shrine. The cross on top of the dome was replaced by a crescent, and a wooden screen was placed around the rock below. Saladin's nephew al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa carried out other restorations within the building, and added the porch to the Jami'a Al-Aqsa.
The Dome of the Rock was the focus of extensive royal patronage by the sultans during the Mamluk period, which lasted from 1260 until 1516.
Ottoman period (1517–1917)
[edit]During the Ottoman period, the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (Template:Reign) brought Ottoman dynastic patronage to the city, around the same time that the sultan and his wife, Haseki Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana), were also commissioning works in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Suleiman initiated a major renovation of the Dome of the Rock. The most visible legacy of this work was the covering of the exterior with Ottoman-style tiles, which replaced the old Umayyad mosaics.<ref name=":0" /> This was likely part of an effort to impose a visibly Ottoman mark on this major Islamic holy site.Template:Sfn Inscriptions on the tiles provide the dates 952 AH (1545–6 CE) and 959 AH (1552 CE), but work continued until the end of Suleiman's reign, if not later.<ref name=":0" /> Documents show repairs were still incomplete by the time of Murad III (Template:Reign) and the latter can probably be credited with finishing this work, which included repairs to the lead of the dome.Template:Sfn
The tiles seem to have been fabricated locally rather than at centers like Iznik (famous for its production of Iznik pottery at this time), although there does not appear to have been a sophisticated ceramic production center in the region.<ref name=":0" /> Robert Hillenbrand remarks that the workshops that produced the tiles must have been dedicated to this project alone, because there is no evidence that similar tilework was produced for other monuments in Jerusalem during this period.Template:Sfn The name of one of the craftsmen is recorded in an inscription as Abdallah of Tabriz.<ref name=":0" /> This may indicate that the tiles were commissioned from a workshop of Iranian craftsmen from Tabriz who are thought to have produced many earlier Ottoman tiles.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The Dome of the Chain, a free-standing structure next to the Dome of the Rock, was also renovated as part of Suleiman's project, in 1561–2.Template:Sfn Also nearby, the Ottomans built the Dome of the Prophet in its current form sometime in the 16th or 17th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn
Further restorations to the building are recorded in 1720–1721, 1742,1754, 1780, 1817–1818, and 1853.Template:Sfn In another major restoration project undertaken in 1874–1875 during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, all the tiles on the west and southwest walls of the octagonal part of the building were removed and replaced by copies that had been made in Turkey.Template:Sfn<ref name=laurent1993>Template:Cite book</ref>
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The first-ever photograph of the building, 1842–1844
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View from the north, Francis Bedford (1862)
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West front in 1862. By this date many of the 16th century tiles were missing.
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Interior showing mosaic decoration (1914)
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Tiled façade (2013)
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Interior showing rock (1915)
British Mandate
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Haj Amin al-Husseini, appointed Grand Mufti by the British in 1917, along with Yaqub al-Ghusayn, implemented the restoration of the Dome of the Rock and the Jami Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.
Parts of the Dome of the Rock collapsed during the 11 July 1927 earthquake, and the walls were left badly cracked,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> damaging many of the repairs that had taken place over previous years.Template:Citation needed
Jordanian rule
[edit]In 1955, an extensive program of renovation was begun by the government of Jordan, with funds supplied by Arab governments and Turkey. The work included replacement of large numbers of tiles dating back to the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, which had become dislodged by heavy rain. In 1965, as part of this restoration, the dome was covered with a durable aluminium bronze alloy made in Italy that replaced the lead exterior. Before 1959, the dome was covered in blackened lead. In the course of substantial restoration carried out from 1959 to 1962, the lead was replaced by aluminum-bronze plates covered with gold leaf.
Israeli rule
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A few hours after the Israeli flag was hoisted over the Dome of the Rock in 1967 during the Six-Day War, Israelis lowered it on the orders of Moshe Dayan and invested [[Jerusalem Waqf|the Muslim Template:Transliteration]] (religious trust) with the authority to manage the Temple Mount in order to "keep the peace".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1993, the golden dome covering was refurbished following a donation of US$8.25Template:Nbspmillion by King Hussein of Jordan, who sold one of his houses in London to fund the Template:Convert of gold required.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Accessibility
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The Dome is maintained by the Ministry of Awqaf in Amman, Jordan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Until the mid-20th century, non-Muslims were not permitted in the area. Since 1967, non-Muslims have been permitted limited access; however non-Muslims are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, bring prayer books, or wear religious apparel. The Israeli police help enforce this.<ref>Jerusalem's Holy Places and the Peace Process Template:Webarchive Marshall J. Breger and Thomas A. Idinopulos, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1998.</ref> Israel restricted access for a short time during 2012 of Palestinian residents of the West Bank to the Temple Mount. West Bank Palestinian men had to be over 35 to be eligible for a permit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, who hold Israeli residency cards, and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are permitted unrestricted access.
Some Orthodox rabbis encourage Jews to visit the site, while most forbid entry to the compound lest there be a violation of Jewish law. Even rabbis who encourage entrance to the Temple Mount prohibit entrance to the actual Dome of the Rock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Religious significance
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The location of the Dome of the Rock is believed by many Muslims to be the site mentioned in Sura 17 of the Qur'an, which tells the story of the Isra and Mi'raj, the mythical Night Journey of Muhammad from the Great Mosque of Mecca to the Masjid Al-Aqsa ("the farthest place of prayer") where he prayed, and then to visit heaven where he leads prayers and rises to heaven to receive instructions from Allah. Although the city of Jerusalem is not mentioned by any of its names in the Qur'an, it is mentioned in hadiths as the place of Muhammad's Night Journey.<ref>Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (ed.). "Historic Cities of the Islamic World", p. 226.</ref>
Judging though by the early Muslim sources, this does not seem to have been yet a fully formulated part of the beliefs shared by Muslims during the construction of the Dome in the 8th century, and the inscriptions inside the dome attributing the building to Caliph 'Abd al-Malik in the year 691/2 do not refer at all to the Night Journey, but contain only the Quranic view on the nature of the prophet Isa (Jesus) instead.<ref name="Rabbat" /> The inscription is in a mosaic frieze that includes an explicit rejection of the divinity of Christ:
According to Goitein, the inscriptions decorating the interior clearly display a spirit of polemic against Christianity, whilst stressing at the same time the Qur'anic doctrine that Jesus was a true prophet. The formula Template:Transliteration ('God has no companion') is repeated five times; the verses from Sura Maryam 19:35–37, which strongly reaffirm Jesus' prophethood to God, are quoted together with the prayer: Template:Transliteration – "O Lord, send your blessings to your Prophet and Servant Jesus son of Mary." He believes that this shows that rivalry with Christendom, together with the spirit of Muslim mission to the Christians, was at work at the time of construction.<ref name="SDG" />
At the beginning of the 8th century, Ibn Ishaq codified the earliest Arabic source pertaining to the Jerusalem Rock, as part of his Template:Transliteration, a biography of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, introducing the notion that right after his Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem (Template:Transliteration), he set off immediately and specifically from the Rock in his Ascension (Template:Transliteration) to Heaven, where God instructed him in the doctrines of the new religion.<ref name="Rabbat" />
Today, many Muslims believe the Dome serves for the commemoration of Muhammad's Ascension,<ref name="Rabbat" /> in accordance to the views shared by some Islamic scholars, that the Rock is indeed the spot<ref name="Braswell, G 1996. p. 14">Braswell, G. Islam – Its Prophets, People, Politics and Power. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers. 1996. p. 14</ref> from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad was taken here by Gabriel to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.<ref>Ali, A. The Holy Qur'an – Translation and Commentary. Bronx, NY: Islamic Propagation Centre International. 1946. pp. 1625–31</ref>
Other Islamic scholars believe that Muhammad ascended to Heaven from the Masjid Al-Aqsa, of which the Dome of the Rock is a part.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In traditional Jewish sources, it is believed to be the place from which the creation of the world began.<ref name="tanhuma">Tanhuma Kedoshim 10</ref> Moreover, many Jews believe the site to be where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. The Foundation Stone and its surroundings which lie at the center of the dome, are considered the holiest site in Judaism.Template:Citation needed Jews traditionally regard the location of the stone as the holiest spot on Earth, the site of the Holy of Holies of the First and the Second Temple.Template:Citation needed
Though Muslims now pray towards the Kaaba at Mecca, they once faced the Temple Mount as the Jews do; Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards Jerusalem until the 16th or 17th month after his migration from Mecca to Medina, when Allah directed him to instead turn towards the Kaaba in Mecca.<ref name="17th">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Temple Institute wishes to relocate the Dome to another site and replace it with a Third Temple, a vision in line with the New Jerusalem prophecy.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Many Israelis are ambivalent about the Movement's wishes.Template:Weasel inline Some religious Jews, following rabbinic teaching, believe that the Temple should only be rebuilt in the messianic era, and that it would be presumptuous of people to force God's hand. However, some Evangelical Christians consider rebuilding of the Temple to be a prerequisite to Armageddon and the Second Coming.<ref>Stephen Spector, Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, Oxford University Press, 2008 p. 202.</ref> Jeremy Gimpel, a US-born candidate for The Jewish Home political party in the 2013 Israeli elections, caused a controversy when he was recorded telling a Fellowship Church evangelical group in Florida in 2011 to imagine the incredible experience that would follow were the Dome to be destroyed and the construction of the Third Temple begun. All evangelicals would immediately rush to go to Israel, he opined.<ref>Andrew Esensten U.S.-born Knesset candidate, Jeremy Gimpel, and his Dome of the Rock 'joke' Template:Webarchive, Haaretz 20 January 2013.</ref>
Influence and depiction
[edit]Homages in art and architecture
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It was long believed that the Dome of the Rock echoed the architecture of the Temple in Jerusalem, as can be seen in Raphael's The Marriage of the Virgin and in Perugino's Marriage of the Virgin.<ref name=JB>Template:Cite book</ref>
For the same reason, the Dome of the Rock has inspired the architecture of a number of buildings. These include the 15th-century octagonal Church of St. Giacomo in Italy, the 19th-century octagonal Moorish Revival-style Rumbach Street Synagogue in Budapest,<ref name=JB/> as well as the Mausoleum of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Istanbul and the New Synagogue in Berlin, Germany.
On banknotes
[edit]The Dome of the Rock has been depicted on the obverse and reverse of several Middle Eastern currencies:
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Reverse of a 1,000 Iranian rial banknote (1992).
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Reverse of a 1 Jordanian dinar banknote (1959). Since 1992, the 20 dinar note bears the Dome's depiction.
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Obverse of a 50 Saudi riyal banknote (1983).
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Obverse of a 1 Palestinian pound banknote (1939).
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Gallery
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Panorama of the Temple Mount, including Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, from the Mount of Olives
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Aerial view
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General view with Old City from Mount of Olives
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General view from SW
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Stereo card of the Dome of Rock (late 19th century)
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Dome of the rock, Samuel Hirszenberg, 1908 (Tel Aviv Museum of Art); with qas
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View through Cotton Merchants' Gate
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On a rainy day, with Dome of the Chain
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Dome of the Chain: ceiling
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Dome of the Rock from Dome of the Chain
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Exterior from N
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Exterior: northern door
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Exterior from S
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Exterior: detail southern facade, door, gilded dome
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Exterior: detail southern facade with door
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Exterior: gilded dome
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Exterior: detail, Ottoman tiles
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Exterior: detail, Ottoman tiles
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Exterior: detail, Ottoman tiles
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Exterior: window with tiled lattice
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Exterior: western entrance vault
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Interior: inner colonnade, dome
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Interior: drum and dome
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Interior: detail decorated drum and dome
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Interior: drum mosaic, vessel with floral motif
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Interior: detail of the dome
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References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Works cited
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Peterson, Andrew (1994). Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. London: Routledge. Template:ISBN
- Braswell, G. (1996). Islam – Its Prophets, People, Politics and Power. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers.
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- Template:The First Dynasty of Islam
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- Ali, A. (1946). The Holy Qur’an – Translation and Commentary. Bronx, NY: Islamic Propagation Centre International.
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- Christoph Luxenberg: Neudeutung der arabischen Inschrift im Felsendom zu Jerusalem. In: Karl-Heinz Ohlig / Gerd-R. Puin (Hg.): Die dunklen Anfänge. Neue Forschungen zur Entstehung und frühen Geschichte des Islam, Berlin (Verlag Hans Schiler) 2005, S. 124–147. English version: "A New Interpretation of the Arabic Inscription in Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock". In: Karl-Heinz Ohlig / Gerd-R. Puin (eds.): The Hidden Origins of Islam: New Research into Its Early History, Amherst, N.Y. (Prometheus Books) 2010
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Further reading
[edit]- Template:Cite book
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External links
[edit]Template:Jerusalem Old City Template:Umayyad Caliphate topics
- Pages with broken file links
- Mosque buildings with domes in Israel
- 7th-century mosques
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- Mosques in Jerusalem
- Octagonal buildings
- Shrines in Jerusalem
- Temple Mount
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- Umayyad architecture in Palestine
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