AbstractsHistory

The beauty of Jerusalem has always been in the city’s rich religious significance to the monotheistic Abrahamic faiths Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Since the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans under Titus in the first century, the temple mount has undergone many changes. Although the earlier Christian community did not build on the remains of the temple, the Umayyad Caliphs erected a splendid structure reflecting artistic influence from Byzantine and Persian sources together with some of the earliest surviving inscriptions of the Quran. Today, The Dome of the Rock stands proudly on the site and is an iconic structure representing Jerusalem for many worldwide. This shrine, begun in the late 600s, was the first important public building of the Islamic faith. As such, it is a cultural focus point for the entire Islamic world and a monument that preserves the historic, cultural and religious heritage of the site from the time of the First Temple up to the present day.The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is not a mosque. The octagonal ground plan looks to local buildings built as shrines over sacred spots, usually those where martyrs died. In the case of Jerusalem, the site of the first Temple was where Adam was created and where the patriarch Abraham prepared to sacrificed his son. Unlike the earlier Christian examples of octagonal shrine, the exterior of The Dome is beautifully ornamented in colored marbles and was topped by a semi-spherical dome. Glass mosaics once covered the upper parts of the exterior walls and the drum of the dome. These were replaced by ceramic tiles in the 16th century and the original dome was replaced by the ogival dome we all know. The four main doors to the interior are aligned to the four cardinal points and have arrangements of beautiful marble columns reused from antique sources. What we see today, updated the original Dome of the Rock but followed its original design and intent. The building is unique in the beautiful mosaics playing on the interior walls of the side aisles and the drum. Those in the side aisles are the earliest texts of the Quran that lead the visitor into the space and to the center of the structure. Persian or Sasanian motifs decorate the drum supporting the dome above the final texts of the Quran. Because Islam does not use images of human beings in sacred spaces, the play of light on these tesserae (some backed with gold leaf) and the beautiful stone work (some restored) creates a mood and a special environment conducive to prayer and meditation. The end of the pilgrimage through the side aisles is the center space where you see the rock itself. It is this combination of materials  – stone work, glass tesserae and ceramic tiles – used without and within a sacred octagonal space that attracted me as an art historian. As a Muslim woman, the whole environment of The Dome of the Rock and its sacred site is holy. My thesis will try to analyse how such man-made beauty can be so moving and expressive. As such I will bring in my personal experiences and… Advisors/Committee Members: Scillia, Diane (Advisor).