History
Pre-Islamic context
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 the rule of Herod the Great in the century BC. C. Herod's temple was destroyed in the year 70 by the Romans, and after the rebellion of Bar Kochba in 135, the emperor Hadrian built a Roman temple to Jupiter "Jupiter (mythology)") Capitolinus on its site.[19].
Jerusalem was ruled by the Christian Byzantine Empire between the 20th and 30th centuries. During this time the Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem began to develop.[20] The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built by order of Constantine in the 320s, but the Temple Mount was left unfinished following a failed restoration project of the Jewish Temple under the orders of Julian the Apostate.
Original Umayyad construction
The initial octagonal structure of the Dome of the Rock and its wooden dome had basically the same shape as they have today.[21] It was built on the orders of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705).[22] According to late-century historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi"), construction began in 685/686, while according to late-century historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, al-Suyuti") the year of beginning was 688.[22] A dedicatory inscription in Kufic calligraphy is preserved inside the dome. The recorded date is 72 AH (691/692 AD), the year in which most historians believe that the construction of the original Dome was completed. This alteration of the original inscription was first noted by the French archaeologist Melchior de Vogüé") in 1854.[24] The cost of construction was reportedly seven times the annual taxes of Egypt.[25] An alternative interpretation of the inscription states that it refers to the year in which construction began.[26]
Some scholars have suggested that the dome was added to an existing building, built either by Muawiya I (r. 661-680),[27] or a Byzantine building built before the Muslim conquest, under the rule of Heraclius (r. 610-641).[28]
Its architecture and mosaics follow the pattern of nearby Byzantine churches and palaces.[29] The two engineers in charge of the project were Raja ibn Haywah, a Muslim theologian from Beit She'an, and Yazid ibn Salam, a non-Arab Muslim native of Jerusalem.[29][30].
Shelomo Dov Goitein of the Hebrew University has suggested that the original purpose of the Dome of the Rock was to compete with the many beautiful places of worship of other religions: "The very form of rotunda "Rotunda (architecture)") given to the Qubbat as-Sakhra [Dome of the Rock], while foreign to Islam, was intended to compete with the many Christian domes."[31] K.A.C. Creswell in his book The Origin of the Plan of the Dome of the Rock points out that those who built the altar used the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.[32] The diameter of the dome of the altar is 20.20 m and its height is 20.48 m, while the diameter of the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is 20.90 m and its height is 21.05 m.
Narratives from medieval sources about Abd al-Málik's motives for building the Dome of the Rock vary.[33] At the time of construction, the caliph was at war with the Christian Byzantine Empire and its Syrian Christian allies on the one hand, and with the rival caliph Ibn al-Zubayr, who controlled Mecca, the annual Muslim pilgrimage destination, on the other.[33][8] Thus, a number of explanations were given. that Abd al-Malik wanted the Dome of the Rock to be a religious monument of victory over the Christians that would highlight the uniqueness of Islam within the common Abrahamic religious context of Jerusalem, home to the two oldest Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Christianity. the focus of the Muslims of his kingdom to a place other than the Kaaba in Mecca, where Ibn al-Zubay publicly condemned the Umayyads during the annual pilgrimage to the shrine.[8][33][34] Although most modern historians dismiss the second explanation as a product of anti-Umayyad propaganda in traditional Muslim sources and doubt that Abd al-Malik intended to alter the Muslim sacred requirement of completing the pilgrimage to the Kaaba, other historians admit that this possibility cannot be conclusively ruled out.[8][33][34].
Abbasids and Fatimids
The building was severely damaged by earthquakes in 808 and 846.[35] The dome collapsed in an earthquake in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022-1023. The mosaics over the drum "Drum (architecture)") were repaired in 1027–28.[3].
Crusades
For centuries Christian pilgrims had been able to visit the Temple Mount, but increasing violence against pilgrims to Jerusalem (for example, al-Hakim bi-Amrillah ordered the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher) sparked the Crusades. a royal palace for a time, and then for much of the century the headquarters of the Knights Templar. The Templars, active from around 1119, identified the Dome of the Rock as the site of Solomon's Temple. The Templum Domini, as the Dome of the Rock was called, appeared on the official seals of the order's Grand Masters (such as Evrard des Barrès and Renaud de Vichiers), and soon became the architectural model for round Templar churches throughout Europe.[37] The Dome was used as a church until a Muslim army recaptured Jerusalem ("Siege of Jerusalem (1187)") in 1187.[14].
Ayubids and Mamelukes
Saladin, the Ayyubid prince who recaptured Jerusalem ("Siege of Jerusalem (1187)") on October 2, 1187, re-consecrated the Dome as a Muslim altar as part of his campaign to increase the sanctity and political importance of the city. The cross that had been installed at the top of the dome was removed and replaced with a crescent and a wooden panel was placed around the rock. Saladin al-Malik al-Mu'azzam Isa's nephew conducted other restorations inside the building and added the porch to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Mamluks, rulers of Egypt and Syria between 1250 and 1517, restored the wooden ceilings of the ambulatory and the central dome.[38] The Ottoman sultan Suleiman I (r. 1520-1566), whose name is the Turkish form of Solomon, ordered the building to be re-decorated as part of his program of beautification of the holy cities of Islam,[38] and it was there that the exterior of the Dome was covered with Turkish faience tiles.[17] Adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, the Ottomans built the freestanding Prophet's Dome in 1620.
Large-scale renovations began during the reign of Mahmut II in 1817. In a major restoration project begun in 1874-1875 during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, all the tiles on the western and southwestern walls of the octagonal part of the building were removed and replaced with copies that were made in Turkey.[39][40].
• - Portal:Islam. Content related to Islam.
• - Wailing Wall.
• - Jerusalem Temple.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Dome of the Rock.
• - Dome of the Rock Image made with AutoCAD in 1995.
• - Dome of the Rock Image of the interior.
• - Three-dimensional image of the Dome of the Rock (without plugin; in Spanish, English, German).
• - Video showing the rock on which the dome is built.