The Archaeology of Jerusalem by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300198997
Publisher: YaleUP
Published: 2013-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

THE TEMPLUM DOMINI

The Templum Domini was one of the prominent features on medieval maps of the city.37 It was depicted on the royal seals of the kings of Jerusalem alongside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Tower of David and is described in detail in most of the itineraria. The Franks identified the Umayyad shrine on the former Temple Mount with the biblical Temple; thus able to justify leaving this remarkable Muslim building intact after the conquest, they transformed it into a church dedicated to St. Mary. Certain alterations were necessary to lend the building a Christian character and to protect it from the growing numbers of pilgrims and their increasing desire to obtain holy relics. This work commenced around 1114 and continued for several years. Changes included covering the rock with marble slabs, enclosing it in an iron grille, and placing a great cross on the dome, which in the tenth century had been plated with gilded brass (fig. 10.11). This was perhaps an intentional measure taken by the Franks together with the rebuilding of the Holy Sepulchre to restore the balance between the two religious foci in the city, the Haram al-Sharif and the Holy Sepulchre. A degree of parity seems to have been achieved by enhancing the latter and lessening somewhat the visual impact of the former.

From 1112, Augustinian canons were installed in the Church of St. Mary. Not long thereafter they were housed in an abbey built on the northern part of the platform. Almost nothing is known of the conventual buildings of the canons.

In A.H. 583/1187 C.E., following the Ayyubid conquest, the Dome of the Rock reverted to Muslim use. The gold-plated cross was lowered from the top and the dome was regilded. The altar and marble slabs were removed from over the rock and the frescoes were effaced. The iron grille remained in place until the middle of the twentieth century.

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