MOSQUES

• The Grand Mosque of Damascus, commonly

known as the Umayyad Mosque, is one of the
largest, oldest and holiest in the world.
• The tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden
adjoining the north wall of the mosque.
• Shrine with the head of John the Baptist, who
is honored as a prophet by both Christians and
Muslims.
• In the late fourth century, the temple area
became a Christian sacred site.
• The Temple of Jupiter was destroyed and a
church dedicated to John the Baptist was built
in its place.
• The church was believed to enshrine the head
of the Baptist, and the site became an
important pilgrimage destination in the
Byzantine era.
• Initially, the Muslim conquest of Damascus in
636 did not affect the church, as the building
was shared by Muslim and Christian
worshippers.
• It remained a church and continued to draw
Christian pilgrims
• the Muslims built a mud-brick structure against
the southern wall where they could pray
• The layout was based on the
Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.
• Damascus is believed to
be the oldest
continuously inhabited
city in the world .
• The Umayyad Mosque
stands on a site that has
been considered sacred
ground for at least
3,000 years.
Shrine of Saladin outside the mosque
• The sahn is punctuated by three major
elements:
• the ablution fountain covered with a dome
that is supported by columns,
• the Khazne Dome on the western side
supported by eight Corinthian columns
• Zein al-Abidin Dome on the eastern side also
supported by eight columns
• The plan of the mosque is formed by a 97m x 156m
rectangle with the sahn on the northern side
wrapped around four edges.
• Because the haram occupies the southern part of the
rectangle, the exterior wall has three gates that
connect to the city from the northern, eastern and
western sides
• The southern exterior wall that borders the haram
has a door that links directly to the outside.
• Two main materials were used for cladding:
fusayfusa'a mosaic and marble.
• Mihrab with bands of
fusayfusa'a and marble
ornamentation
• The triple-aisled prayer
hall, 160 meters long,
was covered with a
tiled wooden roof and
supported on reused
columns taken from
Roman temples in the
region as well as the
Church of Mary at
Antioch.
• The facade of the courtyard
and its arcades were
covered in colored marble,
glass mosaic and gold. The
mosque may have had the
largest golden mosaic in the
world, at over 4,000 square
meters. The minaret
structures of the mosque
developed out of the corner
towers of the ancient
Roman temenos.
• rebuilt several times due to fires in 1069, 1401
and 1893.
• The marble paneling dates from after the fire of
1893, which was especially damaging to the great
mosaics.
• In 2001 Pope John Paul II visited the mosque,
primarily to visit the relics of John the Baptist. It
was the first time a pope paid a visit to a mosque.
• It was 1000 BC when the Arameans built a
temple here for Hadad, the god of storms and
lightening.
• A basalt orthostat dating from this period,
depicting a sphinx, has been discovered in the
northeast corner of the mosque.