A shrine over a rock
The building stands on a vast platform in the Old City of Jerusalem, where the Jewish Temple once stood until its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE. At its centre an outcrop of bare rock rises from the floor. Jewish tradition links the place to the Temple and to the story of Abraham and Isaac. Islamic tradition came to associate the rock with the Prophet Muhammad’s night voyage to Jerusalem, the Isra, and his ascent to heaven, the Mi’raj.
An inscription inside gives the date: the year 72 of the Muslim calendar, which corresponds to 691-692 CE, under the caliph Abd al-Malik of the early Islamic Umayyad dynasty. More than a century later the caliph al-Ma’mun had Abd al-Malik’s name replaced with his own, but left the original date, so the change is easy to spot.
An octagon under a dome
The plan is a double ring around the rock: an outer octagon, then an inner ring of piers and columns, then a circular drum carrying a wooden dome about 20 metres across. Visitors could walk round the rock in two concentric passages. This central plan was familiar in the region from Christian shrines built over holy places, such as the round church over the tomb of Christ at the Holy Sepulchre, whose dome is of a similar size.
Mosaics without figures
Inside, the walls above the arcades are covered with the original Umayyad mosaics: vases, scrolling plants, jewels and crowns on a gold ground, with no people or animals. The style and technique come from the Byzantine and late Roman tradition; the choice to leave out figures is new. Crowns and jewels, the insignia of kings, have been read as trophies of the empires the caliphs had defeated.
A band of gold Kufic inscriptions about 240 metres long runs round the inner octagon. It quotes the Qur’an on the oneness of God and on Jesus as a prophet and messenger, a message addressed also to the Christians of the city.
What was it built for?
Abd al-Malik left no statement of purpose, and historians have offered several readings, which can overlap:
Changes over the centuries
The building has been repaired many times. In the sixteenth century the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had the outer walls covered with glazed tiles, which were replaced during restorations in the twentieth century. The dome, long covered with lead and later with gilded metal, was given a covering of gold leaf in 1993-1994, a gift of King Hussein of Jordan. The interior mosaics remain largely those of the seventh century.
Where to see it
The Dome of the Rock stands at the centre of the Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the al-Aqsa Mosque. Access to the platform for non-Muslim visitors is limited to set hours, and the interior of the shrine is generally open only to Muslims; rules change, so check before going. The building of the Great Mosque of Damascus a few years later continued the same Umayyad tradition of mosaics.
Sources
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline, “The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra)”.
- O. Grabar, The Dome of the Rock (Cambridge, Mass., 2006).
- Smarthistory, “The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra)”.
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