Publication Date
715-706/96-87
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;11;ar
Library Location
Damascus, Syria
Date
715-706/96-87
Notes
The Umayyad Mosque was built on the site of the Roman Temple of Jupiter, which had been converted into the Church of St. John the Baptist in 379. After the Islamic conquest of Damascus, the holy place was shared between Christians and Muslims, and with the arrival of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik to power, the church was demolished and a spacious mosque was built in its place. The external walls of the mosque consist of the walls of the Roman temple, which is a rectangular wall with wall supports, its dimensions are 158 x 100 m. The mosque has three minarets, the southeastern minaret is known as the Minaret of Issa, and the minaret located in the center of the northern wall is known as the Minaret of the Bride. Both date back to the early fifth century / eleventh century. The southwestern minaret was rebuilt by Sultan Qaytbay after a fire in 884 / 1479. The rectangular sky space, whose dimensions are 122.5 x 50 m, is surrounded by a portico on three sides, and on the southern side extends the three-winged chapel, whose dimensions are 136 x 37 m, and is a shape reminiscent of Byzantine churches. The chapel is divided by two rows of arches supported by reused classical columns with Corinthian capitals. A magnificent, domed transept portico divides the row of arches into two equal halves, and its façade overlooking the heavenly space is distinguished by a edifice entrance with a notched roof in the centre, reminiscent of Byzantine palaces. Glass and gilded mosaics covered all the facades of the heavenly space at one time, and only the “Barada Mosaic” remains. It was named after the Barada River in Damascus, and represents a scene in which rivers, trees, and architectural structures were present. The porticoes were covered up to a height of 3.5 m with colored marble decorations, and only a few marble tiles remain today in the corners of the south-eastern portico. The marble decoration was once crowned by a cornice in the form of trellis branches of acacia bearing clusters, reminiscent of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The magnificent mosaics, carved stone and marble decorations are classical elements, indicating the continuity of Greco-Roman traditions and the characteristics of Byzantine architecture. All of these features were mixed with the Islamic tendency not to represent people in religious places, and this conscious choice was the distinctive feature of the new Umayyad architecture. The speed with which the Umayyad monumental mosque was completed, and the magnificent decorations and expensive materials that were used, was a great challenge for the Christian churches, and set a symbolic inspiration for Muslims, Like the Mosque in Cordoba, which was an early architectural masterpiece of Islamic religious architecture, the Umayyad Mosque became a model for mosques known as “columned mosques,” consisting of a simple, wide courtyard surrounded by a portico on three sides, and a sanctuary for prayer. The division into three wings and a transverse portico also affected the architecture of mosques in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain.
Sample Text
Verena Daiber "Umayyad Mosque" in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;11;ar
