Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock or the Cupola of the Rock (in Arab: rear RTL قبةالصخرة, Qubbat Have-Sakhrah ), called sometimes Mosquée of Omar , is a sanctuary set up on order of the caliph Abd Al-Malik Ben Marwan with Jerusalem, on the esplanade of old the temple of Hérode, the Haram Al-Sharif . Completed into 691 or in the second part of year 692 according to the researchers, it thus constitutes one of the oldest monuments of the Islam. It is also about the third holy place of the Islam after Mecque and Médine, currently associated with the Miraj.

History

As that is noted in one of the inscriptions in Arab which run in the building, the dome of the Rock is built in year 72 of the Hégire, i.e. 691, or rather 692 of the Christian era, under the reign of Abd Al-Malik. It rises over the Haram Al-Sharif, the esplanade of old the Temple of Jerusalem, whose first version was built by the biblical king Solomon, and a second, to the VI E, by Hérode, version increased with I er. After a new destruction in 70 on order of Titus, the esplanade had remained unoccupied, only marked out few ruins. The construction of the dome marks the beginning of a construction schedule on the haram Al-Sharif, which counts in particular the Mosquée Al-Aqsa or the cupola of the chain (qubbat Al-Shakhra).

Central element and majestic of this unit, the dome was restored with many recoveries. At the beginning of the 9th century, the caliph Abbasside Al-Mamun thus made erase the name of Abd Al-Malik to replace it by his on the inscription. Then, each main dynasty of Jerusalem since Fatimides to the Othomans to seek to pose his mark on the building, while undoubtedly preserving some the plan and the original proportions. Nevertheless, of many elements were replaced, in the interior mosaics, where one notes in particular awkward restorations mamlukes, in the cupola, of many rebuilt times, or in the painted ceilings, from which the reasons can be the 13th century. However, it is undoubtedly the external decoration which is marked the most by these restorations: in the middle of the 16th century (two dates are registered, equivalent to 1545 and 1551/52), on order of Soliman the Magnificent the, it was completely replaced by a coating of Othoman ceramics squares.

Major monument of the art of the countries of Islam, the dome of the Rock very early was the subject of studies. Since 1900, the Swiss archeologist max Van Berchem raised the inscriptions, and it publishes a study in 1932. But the scientist who leant the most on the monument is without questions Oleg Grabar, which publishes its first assumptions on its significance in 1959. Its articles constitute the most important corpus on this subject, on which many scientists have board.

Structure

Plan

The dome of the Rock is located on a rectangular artificial platform opened by eight staircases, two on the southern parts and west, one on the sides north and east. Located a little beside the center of this estrade, it follows a plan centered around the focal point which is the rock, actually an outcrop of the Moriah mount. This plan breaks up into a first ring in the center consisted a first colonnade around the Rock, supporting one second the cupola, encircled, octagonal. These two arcades also define a first Déambulatoire, while a second is located between the second the external colonnade and walls, them in eight sides. The building is opened by four doors, giving in direction of the four cardinal points, one - that which looks towards the Mosquée Al-Aqsa, and thus towards the Qibla - being magnifiée by a gantry more important than those of the three other openings.

This plan is not new: it is inspired obviously by those of the Christian martyiria, in particular the the Holy Sepulchre, located itself at Jerusalem and which follows the same organization. It presents also a strong relationship with the sanctuary of Anastasis, also present in Jerusalem.

Under the Rock a cave is, which has two mihrabs and whose original form is impossible to define being given the many restorations.

Rise

Two forms of mediums are used: columns of marble of re-employment coloured (blue marble in particular) and pillars built. For the octagonal colonnade, the proportion is of two columns connected by arcs heightened between each of the eight pillars; in that circular, these are three columns which stress space between four pillars, they support Roman arches with archstones of alternate colors. Each column is surmounted by a capital with sheets of acanthuses and ties of wood connect them, for more solidity. This band of beams is continuous and is placed between the capitals and the arcs for the columns and between the pillars and the corner pieces for the pillars.

The external wall is bored many windows with Claustrat S; one counts seven of them on the sides not-open by a door. Doors as for them stupid marked by two columns for three of them and by an arcade of eight for that which glance towards the qibla. Sixteen windows with claustrats are also found on the drum of the central dome. The double grids which furnish all these openings, so much on the wall external than on the frontage of the drum, date from the Othoman period. The windows were to be original inside out of marble lace and wrought iron outside.

Couvrement

Two types of couvrement are on the dome. First of all, in the center, it is obviously a cupola which surmounts the Rock. Placed on a high drum with two stages, a full partly lower and one bored with sixteen windows in the higher zone, it rises to 25 m height for a diameter of 20 m and consists of two wood hulls, of which outside is gilded by an alloy. According to Muqaddasi, the cupola had originally been gilded with the gold which remained of surplus after construction, but it is necessary any to believe that this account is only one legend.

With the top of the déambulatoires, it is a pitched roof which ensures couvrement. It is hidden with the sight by a high parapet which surmounts the exterior facade. Contiguous to the drum of the dome, it sticks just to the lower part of the windows with claustrats of which this one is bored. Inside, the ceiling is dated from the 13th century.

Decoration

The interior decoration of the dome of the Rock is of three types: ties of wood covered with bronze, platings of marbles on the walls and the pillars and of the mosaics at gold bottom in the high parts (corner pieces, soffits), that the restorations obviously did not deteriorate and who are spread out over more than 280 m ². The decoration was to be more or less identical besides outside, but was replaced by polychrome ceramics of very beautiful quality at the Othoman period. One does not know if the mosaics recovered all surface or were organized in stringcourses or panels. On the other hand, the external marble coating remained intact.

From the point of view of the iconography, one notes the complete absence of illustrated representations: neither human, nor animal are represented in the mosaics. One finds on the other hand many reasons vegetable (garlands, sheets of acanthus, rinceaux of vine, trees real and imaginary, rivet washers), and, inside the circular and octagonal arcades and of the drum of the dome, the jewels in the shape of crowns Sassanide S and Byzantine, of pectoral and other jewels.

The symbolic system of the decoration of the dome raised many questions and interpretations; it seems indeed, being given its fitting and its iconography, that this one did not have by for only vocation being decorative and chatoyant. Oleg Grabar thinks that the jewels must be interpreted as of the symbols of nations defeats suspended as of the trophies on the walls (despoiled), as one found some with the Kaaba, but much of other readings, contradictory or complementary, were brought.

One often brought closer the mosaics to the dome of Christian mosaics, like those of the Église of the Nativity to Bethlehem, for example. Indeed, it is rather probable that their realizers are Christian or Moslem artists recently converted, and trained in Christian or Jewish traditions. Besides the mosaics draw their reasons from late antiquity. However, one notices an adaptation to the Moslem model, in particular in the disappearance of the figuration, which one will find a few years later with the Grande mosque of Omeyyades of Damas. Oleg Grabar in addition notes the birth in the dome of the Rock of two great principles specific to Islamic art: the use of realistic forms at not-realistic ends - incrustations of jewels in the trunk of a tree, for example - and infinite variation on the same topic, by arranging similar reasons differently. Moreover, contrary to the buildings of traditional antiquity, the decoration of the dome is not subordinated to architecture and does not seek to emphasize the structure of the building, but on the contrary covers all the building, like creating a particular atmosphere, a place unified without really tangible architecture.

Inscriptions

The dome of the Rock constitutes the first building where is spread a program of inscriptions maturely considered. Three are umayyades: one, long, 240 m is located at the top of the arches of the external octagonal arcade, the two others being on the doors is and northern. They are each time religious inscriptions resulting from Coran, put aside the name of the silent partner, Abd Al-malik (that Al-Mamun tried to replace by its name) and dates it. Read since 1900, they are listed by Oleg Grabar in the formation of Islamic art and refer mainly to the size and with the unicity of God, are delayed on the prophetic missions and in particular the role of Jesus like prophet, refer to the paradise. One can see there an assertion of the size of Islam at the same time in direction of the new converts, Moslems hesitant and not-Moslems, but Myriam Rosen-Ayalon also showed some holding them eschatologic in order to support its thesis according to which the dome of the Rock is a prefiguration of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Sources and innovations

Structure and decoration draw largely from the vocabulary of late, Mediterranean Antiquity in particular, though one finds elements Iranian, like the winged palmettes of the mosaics. Plan, materials (the columns, with their capitals and their bases, are recovered ruins of the esplanade), methods of construction and techniques of decoration are borrowed in Byzance and Rome.

Nevertheless, it is noticed that no building paléochrétien nor Byzantine resembles the dome of the Rock formally. This one draws certainly its inspiration in the pre-Islamic tradition, but sublimates it to arrive at a typical monument of Islam. This is noticed first of all in the perfect geometrization of the building: the sides measure as much as the diameter of the cupola, and each point of the building derives from the central rock. Some distances are to be noted, in particular in the provision of the columns, but they obey a visual consideration: the observer can see the Rock at some place which it is, its glance being never blocked by a column nor a pillar. The design of the decoration, aniconic, with long Arab inscriptions and jewels is also entirely new, even if it is pressed on old elements such as the rinceaux ones of acanthus, for example. Lastly, it is necessary to note the great richness in the colors, very seldom equalized in a building of late antiquity, except undoubtedly the mausoleums of Salonique and Placidia Official reception.

Reasons of erection

It is difficult at present to precisely know the factors which pushed the caliph omeyyade Abd Al-Malik to order the construction of the dome of the Rock, whose precise function is not determined by its form nor by its inscriptions. Several factors, at the same time political and symbolic systems, can be quoted.

Political reasons

As of the 9th century, one finds in the sources the idea that the caliph wished to divert the Hajj, ritual pilgrimage of Mecque, then occupied by a rival, towards Jerusalem. This assumption is mentioned by Abbasid historian the 'Yakubi towards 874 and by an orthodoxe priest of Alexandria, Eutychius (death in 940), who are based on obviously different sources. Nevertheless, the majority of the current researchers fall from agreement to say that this explanation is false, and give to that several reasons: the absence of mention of a diversion of the pilgrimage in the historical majority of the sources (in particular Tabari, Baladhuri and Maqadasi), and the “ commit suicide politique ” that this radical change in the dogma Moslem would have constituted for Abd Al-Malik, already badly considered on the religious level by its membership of the umayyade family. Moreover, one finds, in a text of Baladhuri, the proof that the pilgrimage continued obviously without problems during the political problems which took place then. Another important component, the practice of the pilgrimage in Jerusalem seems difficult enough for reasons of space. Lastly, if one accepts the thesis of Sheila Blair according to which the dome was built in the second part of year 692, the dates do not agree any more, and the empire were then in a moment of appeasing after the victory of the general Al-Hajjaj.

This last fact can offer one second reading of the building to us, monument of victory of the dynasty umayyade. Consequently occasion, the dome celebrates also triumphing Islam, in the center of a city mainly Christian and at strong Jewish community. The dome would have thus emphasized the victory of Islam, supplementing the revelation of the two other religions monotheists, and would have made it possible at the new state to compete in magnificence with the large Christian sanctuaries of Jerusalem and Syria. Several arguments support this interpretation: the size of the dome, its theatrical position in the city and its old coating shining, of ceramics at gold bottom prove that it was made to be considering by far. Moreover, its centered plan, gives the impression which the monument irradiates in all the directions, also contributing for a scenic purpose. Always according to Oleg Grabar, the program of inscription can be read like a proclamation of the superiority of Islam on Christianity, though all the researchers, in particular Myriam Rosen-Ayalon, do not agree completely with this interpretation. The jewels and the crowns decorating the interior of the building would be then trophies, perhaps in reference to those hung around the Kaaba. This use would be corroborated by the contemporary poetries and official declarations
The choice of the place itself is extremely symbolic system: Jewish crowned place, where remain still ruins of the temples hérodiens, left with the abandonment by the Christians to mark their triumph on this religion, it is again used under Islam, then marking the victory over the Christians and, possibly, a continuity with the Judaism. Moreover, like showed it Priscila Soucek, the place is associated with David and Solomon, two exceptional sovereigns in the biblical tradition, whose prestige is supposed to flash back on the caliph who is installed on their traces. Lastly, one can note that the historian Muqqadasi, at the 10th century, writes that the dome was carried out with an aim of exceeding the the Holy Sepulchre, from where a similar, but magnifié plan.

Of this analysis one could conclude that the dome of the Rock can be regarded as a message of Islam and Umayyades in direction of the Christians, Jews, but also of the Moslems recently converted (attracted by the deployments of luxury of the Christian churches) to mark the triumph of Islam. But it is not the only assumption…

Religious reasons

Other explanations, plus symbolic systems and not inevitably contradictory, were advanced after the analysis of the traditions related to the site.

In the Jewish habits, the Mont Moriah is indicated like the site of the Temple of Solomon, and Haram Al-Sharif would have been set up in Hérodiens times, during the rebuilding of the temple and its extension, at the end of the VI E Of the archaeological remainders rather important, in particular the Wailing Wall still testify to this past. Nevertheless, it is noted that in the Bible, the Rock is never mentioned, and does not seem to play a paramount role.

Traditions also locate at this place the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, and at the beginning of Islam, the hadiths would have located on the Rock the place since which God left the Earth after his creation to turn over to the sky. A later habit associates also the Rock with the Isra, the night voyage of Mahomet, and to the Miraj, its rise, during which he would have visited the paradise and the hell. The fastening of these events in Jerusalem rather early appears, as of the 8th century in the texts, but it is only towards 12th - 13th century that the Islamic sources mention really the Rock like starting point of the miraj. This amalgam probably did not exist at the time of the construction of the dome, though it could be anchored much earlier in the popular accounts.

Another analysis was provided by Myriam Rosen Ayalon which, after having studied in a detailed way the Koranic inscriptions and the decorations of mosaic, estimates that the dome had a paradisiac and eschatologic vocation, and was to be regarded as a kind of prefiguration of the Heavenly Jerusalem. This thesis, already exists at Al-Watisi at the 11th century, which, in its description of the dome, fact use of biblical metaphors with apocalyptic vocation. Several parallels were established, including one with Holy Sepulchre of similar plan, and who has in his center, in addition to the tomb of Christ, a rock, like the dome. The water represented in the mosaics and the veins of the marble, the octagonal shape of the building, the rock which could point out the tomb of the Holy Sepulchre by its provision, the four doors would thus constitute as many references to the paradise. Besides Oleg Grabar notes that, as of 70, i.e. just after the destruction of the temple of Hérode, a pilgrimage had developed with eschatologic vocation. Priscilla Soucek, as for it, associates the dome with the temple and especially with the palate of Solomon, famous in the Koranic tradition for its richnesses (from where the jewels and the crowns). It estimates that, in a broader vision of the Koranic reading of the myth of Solomon, one can identify this palate with the Paradise.

Access control

The access to the dome is interdict with the not-Moslems.

Until the middle of the 19th century the access to the zone was interdict with the not-Moslems. Starting from 1967 the not-Moslems saw themselves granted a restricted right of access, but the prayers not-Moslem women were prohibited on the Mont of the Temple.

In the 2000, visit considered provocative of Israeli the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with the Mount of the Temple started a strong protest on behalf of the Moslems, which involved the reinstauration of the prohibition of access to the not-Moslems.

In 2006 the zone was reopened with the visitors not-Moslems, except Friday and during bank holidays for the Moslems.

Notes, references and bibliography

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