#897 Dome of the Rock (Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah), Palestine (Israel)

Long before I saw the Dome of the Rock, Muslim scholars in Morocco told me about it and made me impressed. I do think it is quite lovely to build a temple simply to recognize that one small spot on earth needs to be remembered. It is a temple to remember what happened in that place, not because that place happens to be sacred in itself, although of course it is now sacred because of its historical importance. 

Mohammed's sacred Night Journey to accept the Koran from God and pray with Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa) and Jesus (Isa) is a fundamental aspect of Islam, and it is said that it was from this rock that he ascended there. The rock itself can only be viewed by Muslims, so I did not go inside. The outside, however, is spectacular, and an amazing piece of architecture, especially considering it was built in 691. It is one of the most important buildings and sacred sites in Islam, and follows the traditional geometry beautifully, although some scholars have said that the dome itself was intended as competition to Christian domes.

The fact that the Dome of the Rock happens to be in sacred Jerusalem could be considered ironic -- the Temple Mount is the foundation of the destroyed (second) Jewish Temple of Solomon, and the Western Wall of the large platform on which the Dome of Rock stands serves as the place for prayer for Jews, also know as the Wailing Wall. Nothing can be separated -- just as the ovens that cooked the bread were the same fires that heated the hamams, these two sacred places are inseparable, and thus their status and ownership will forever be disputed. 

View of the Dome of the rock from the other side of Jerusalem.

Postcard of an aerial view of the Dome of the Rock with Jerusalem behind.

Photo of the rock inside the dome. Photo from http://sacredsites.com/middle_east/israel/jerusalem.html 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock

Jerusalem

Jerusalem - World Tourism will discuss about the Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, though not internationally recognized as such, and one of the oldest cities in the world. Jerusalem is situated on the southern spur of the plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus eastward.

The height of the Old City is about 760 meters or about 2490 feet. The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds wadi. The Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem. The Kidron Valley runs to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or Hell.

The Valley Tyropoeon begins in the northwest near the Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the bottom into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west or the lower and cities above described by Josephus.

Today, this valley is hidden by debris that has accumulated over the centuries. In biblical times, Jerusalem was surrounded by forests almond, olive and pine trees. During the centuries of war and neglect, is destroyed. Farmers in the Jerusalem region thus built stone terraces along the slopes to hold back the soil, a feature still very much in evidence in the Jerusalem landscape.

World Heritage Masada Iarael

Masada is a symbol of the ancient Jewish kingdom of Israel, of its violent destruction in the later 1st century CE, and of the subsequent Diaspora. The palace of Herod the Great at Masada is an outstanding example of a luxurious villa of the early Roman Empire, while the camps and other fortifications that encircle the hill constitute the finest and most complete Roman siege works to have survived to the present day.

Continent: Asia

Country: Israel

Category: Cultural

Criterion: (III)(IV) (VI)

Date of Inscription: 2001

Masada, the Towering Hill

The towering hill of Masada, with its precipitous flanks, overlooks a natural landscape of savage beauty. To the west lies the Judaean Desert, with its hills and terraces. To the east is a wildly broken terrain, running down to the brilliant colours of the Dead Sea. A giant scarp stretches to the south away to the horizon - the western wall of the Syrian-African rift valley - and Masada forms part of this scarp.

In the northern area (Herodian period), the main structure is the Northern Palace, which in its present form is from the main phase (late 1st century BC). It was built on three slightly modified natural rock terraces. The upper level was mainly used for residential purposes, all originally decorated with mosaic floors and wall paintings. To the north there is a semi-circular colonnaded terrace surrounding what was probably a garden. On the two lower levels are to be found imposing colonnaded reception halls, both had bathing facilities. The lower reception level is the best preserved of the three. Access was through a trapezoid courtyard, with storerooms, meal preparation facilities, and a small bathhouse below and around it. There are two rock-hewn cisterns underneath. On a small hill just to the south of the Northern Palace is the large bath-house.

Masada Israel

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In the western area (Herodian period), the Western Palace was substantially enlarged and rebuilt in the main phase. To the nucleus, which consisted of a courtyard surrounded by bedrooms and reception rooms, were added two extensive service wings. The palace was expanded once more in the final phase, with the addition of new wings. Its size and layout, together with the opulence of its decoration (mosaic floors and walls of white plaster painted to imitate marble panels). This confirms the hypothesis that this was the ceremonial palace, the Northern Palace being the private palace for the king and his family.

The casemate wall was built in the final phase. This massive defensive wall, 1,290 m long, contains about 70 rooms on its inner side and has 27 towers. Three gates pierce the wall: the Western Gate, the Southern Gate, and the Snake Path Gate (the eastern gate). A number of deep cisterns were dug into the rock of Masada in all three phases. The small ones dug during the first phase were filled by runoff from the hilltop. During the main phase two rows of cisterns were dug beneath the hilltop. Water was delivered through a network of dams and channels during the winter floods in the wadis to the west of Masada.

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Most of the buildings on the hilltop were occupied by the around 1,000 people who lived there in the Zealot period. The most important new feature from this time was the synagogue, a square building from the Herodian period that was probably used as a stable. Three rows of benches, characteristic of early synagogues, were built round the walls, and the genizah (depository for superseded scrolls) under the floor of the back room. Seven or eight ritual baths (mikveh ) were identified, including one large stepped immersion pool to the south of the Western Palace.

There is a network of eight Roman military camps around Masada. A striking feature of all the Roman camps are the hundreds of contubernia (messing units), consisting of walls of stones 1-1.5 m high on which the soldiers erected their leather tents. The great ramp used for the final assault was built from soil and stones braced by an armature of timber beams.

The Byzantine church is located virtually in the centre of the summit, and its walls still stand to a considerable height, built from coursed dolomite robbed from the Herodian buildings. The floor was originally covered with a mosaic, but much of this was removed to the Louvre in the 19th century. The walls were plastered and with designs of coloured stones and potsherds. The plan is the characteristic rectangular hall with an apse at the east end and a narthex at the west end.

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