The Art and Architecture of the Dome of the Rock Dr Uday Dokras The Dome of the Rock is a 7th-century edifice located in Jerusalem. It enshrines the rock from which Muammad is said to have ascended to heaven. Sometimes erroneously called the Mosque of Umar, from a tradition that it was built by Caliph Umar I, the Dome of the Rock was actually built by Caliph Abd al-Malik between 687 and 691. The first domed shrine to be built, the Dome of the Rock is a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. The octagonal plan and the rotunda dome of wood are of Byzantine design. The Persian tiles on the exterior and the marble slabs that decorate the interior were added by Suleiman I in 1561. The Dome of the Rock is located on a rocky outcrop known as Mount Moriah, where, according to Jewish belief, Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice. The inscriptions inside the building glorify Islam as the final true revelation and culmination of the faiths of Judaism and Christianity. The building is actually not a mosque but a ciborium, erected over a sacred site. According to later Islamic tradition, the Rock (al-Sakhra) in the midst of the building was the spot from which Mohammed ascended to heaven after his miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem on the winged steed al-Buraq. A tradition states that by building the dome, Abd al-Malik was attempting to transfer the Islamic hajj to Jerusalem from Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The 60-foot-diameter, timber-framed double dome, covered internally with colored and gilded stucco and originally roofed with lead covered in gold, rises 35 meters over the holy rock. It is carried on a tall drum, originally faced with glass mosaics, which rests on a circular arcade of 12 marble columns, set in threes between four large rectangular piers. At the top of the drum, 16 colored glass windows light the central space. Inside and outside, the Dome of the Rock was enriched with marble columns and facings and floral mosaic patterns. During the Crusades, the Dome of the Rock was commandeered as a Christian shrine before returning to Islamic hands. Many medieval people believed it to be the famous Temple of King Solomon. Today, it is at the very core of a bitter dispute between Palestinians and Israelis. Although sometimes referred to as the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock is in fact not a mosque. Nevertheless, as the oldest extant Islamic monument, it served as a model for architecture and other artistic endeavors across three continents for a millennium. Built between 685 and 691 C.E., this shrine is the first piece of Islamic architecture sponsored by a Muslim ruler that was created as a work of art. Built to transcend its function by the quality of its forms and expression, the Dome is still standing in much of its original shape and with a good portion of its original decoration. Its wooden gilt dome, which is approximately 20 meters in diameter, rises to a height of some 30 meters above the surrounding stone-paved platform. It is supported by a circular arcade of four piers and twelve columns. Surrounding this circle is an octagonal arcade of eight piers and sixteen columns, which help support the dome. The outer wall repeats this octagon, each of the eight sides being about 18 meters wide and 8 meters high. Both the dome and the exterior walls contain many windows. 1