A view of the south entrance of Dome of the Rock. The shrine is the earliest surviving Islamic monument, dating from the late 7th century AD.
A view of the southern entrance portico, which has eight columns instead of the four in the other three entrances. The four sets of double Corinthian capital columns support a tiled portico sheathed in shimmering Turkish tiles. Structurally, the building uses the phonetic vocabulary of columns, arches, piers, entablatures etc. as it existed in the Mediterranean world. In plan especially, precedents can be found in earlier churches like that of Ravenna. However, the Dome of the Rock is also a unique building which breaks off the tradition of its predecessors. This it does in many ways: it is unique in its geometry and absolute equality of all faces. Even more ground breaking is the complete sheathing of the building, especially outside, in decoration. Decorating a building on the outside hardly had any precedents at the time.
Photograph created 1977. Photograph processed April 1977. Formerly cataloged as B01.013. No notes written on the slide or index.
