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The Dome of the Rock
The walled city of Jerusalem, the so-called Old City, is a tightly woven tissue of narrow, sometimes tortuous streets and buildings, with private houses and shops for the most part, but also religious and secular monuments . One building dominates the view of the Old City, "The Dome of the Rock". It does so primarily because of its height, but also because it appears to be independent of everything else around it because in this city of stones it alone is roofed with what looks like gold while its walls shine with tiles of many colors. Because of its location as well as its dimensions, it strikes a posture of visual control over much of the city and the surrounding valleys and hills. Although frequently repaired and restored the Dome of the Rock is today strikingly similar to what it must have been when first built in the last decade of the seventh century.
The Dome of the Rock is a great monument of world architecture. It occupies the center of a 1.5 million-square-foot esplanade in the Old City. Built in 692 AD/ 72 AH, this outstanding building enshrines the Sacred Rock - one of the several ridges around which the city of Jerusalem developed nearly 3000 years ago. The mosque has reflected and represented Islam through most of its 1300 year history, but it is also associated with sacred events in the lives of Christ, the Virgin and Christian Saints, and Jewish historical traditions and memories. Its specific importance to Islam is that it commemorates one of the richest and most complicated moments in the life of the Prophet Mohammad - his Night Journey (The Isra' or flight from Mecca to Jerusalem) and his Ascension (Mi'raj) into heaven.
Today, the Dome and its area are used primarily in two ways. The first of these is private devotions through prayer, commemorative meditation, and gatherings for listening to formal sermons or sacred stories. The second function of the area is as a place of pilgrimage to which faithful Muslims have come more or less continuously since the tenth century, either as part of the canonical obligation to visit the three holy places of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem at lease once in one's lifetime, or as a regional center for more limited visitations on specific occasions.
For a more detailed description and information see: Nusseibeh, Said and Grabar, Oleg. The Dome of theRock. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.