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9
THE UMAYYAD DOME OF
THE ROCK IN JERUSALEM
Oleg Grabar
Irs a coanrrace oF ctasicn:Isave
‘gous wang thatthe Propet hime
Sind Malay Mada nd Teresi
fhe tie hl places of the fats All
ahres ens were paces of plgrinage ed ia
the Serge eearementstred ori,
td trios sored « monet exper
dio Medea writ sad modern sels
tdwavelrs haven dered the religoae
tepogranty ofthe Min oly places a the
igifcance ofthe amervesracureseeted
fn there ured sot Bu the probier n nt
‘lyon of deeption and entation Toe
‘tetlon mle beled Whether te
foot endear of oly places sod thee
Pen artetrleprein ate from the
tales tines of Tolan, td not whe and
hy hoe iendeatons were ade and he
thelr historical context. For the morgue of
‘Madinah, for instance, we posets the ms
terly study by J. Sauragee, who succeeded, on
(he base of texts and 2 limited archeological
2 Asoag the Mi by place Jers oct
sin gern sigh len fart place thn he
(ve Arabian stetunrzn The Palen cy wes
‘ore ingortn in Omarys, Ayybiy and Mame
thes then under the "Albis a he iy ak
‘Bough Boh ofthe Inver dpa nk west ae fa
eptiig dansged rwomunents on the Haram At
‘is a, levees to ye bad lal pris
‘ate hin aa easel bay ae Nased Route,
1G. LaStngs in Paltne Pri Tet Society
(Gereser PPTS), vl 4, endo, 196, p23" OF
the is imgortnce was Sly ead by ape
igen ad epecially mtn, groupe he 0
Iain at the td of & B Gohan The her!
‘bcgrnind of the erection ofthe Dome of he Rech,
‘ear ofthe American Oreetal Seis (cee
JAOB), wo 70 (1950), yp. to4108.
documentation, in reconatrctng in etal the
ature of this centeal monument of Islamic
‘religious architecture in the Umayyad period.
In the cae of Jerusalem, the problem pre-
sents itself difeendy, Fist, in dealing with
the Hlaram al-Sharif we are not dealing with
4 ne boly aes, sin Madina bet with one
most ancient sacred gpots on earth,
Second, in Jerusalem, the monaments them
selves are better known. The Dome of the
Rocks stl asendally the Umayyad building,
‘The Aged mosque, to be sure, bas undergone
numerous reconstrutions, but recent studies
by K. A. C, Creawel, J. Sauvage, and expe-
cially R. W. Hamilton have given usa good
ides of the nature of the Umayyad mosque,
‘The problem, therefore, is neither reconttae-
tion nor dating, bt esenilly interpretations
if we consider the Jong tradition of Mount
Morish as a sacred place, what was its sige
rifeance in the eyes of the Moline? The
fa42't or religious guidebooks for pilgrims of
lazer times provide us with am answer for the
period which followed the Cramades, but
ray be questioned whether all the complex
traditions reported about the Haram at that
time had already been formulated when the
area was taken over by the Arabs.
its location, throagh” its inscription, and
through ita mosaics, the Dome of the Rock
Itself provides us with three strictly conten
‘porary documents, which have act 30 far been
fully exploited ia an attempt to define the
meaning of the structure at the time of its
‘onstruction. The Dome of the Rock is enpe-
ally important in being not only the exrlet
‘remaining monument of alam, bat, i al ikel-
hood, the earliest major constrtion built by
the new mastera of the Near Eat, The fist224 ——~ EARLY ISLAMIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE
34
rooqus in Kafah, Bapeab, Fest, and Jero-
Salem were certainly not very imposing stroc-
tures; lie i known about Mu'twiyahsseca-
Jes constractons in Damascus, but itis not
‘key thae they were dons on'a very lavish
scale. The Dome of the Rock, on the other
[Rand has remained to thie day one of the most
remathable architectural and artistic achieve
‘ments of lam. Te is therefore imporeant to
Attempt to understand ite meaning to those
‘pho lived when it as bile
Discusion of the mearing of Jerusalem,
and especially of the Haram