{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Dome of the Rock (1)}[15th April 1991]

[Redbook9:126-127][19910415:0840dd]{[Islamic Art –] Visual Arts [continued –] The Dome of the Rock (1)}[15th April 1991]

19910415.0840

[continued]

‘… The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem... is a unique building. Completed in 691[ce], this masterwork of Islamic architecture is the earliest major Islamic monument. Its octagonal plan, use of a high dome, and building techniques are hardly original, although its decoration is unique. Its purpose, however, is what is most remarkable about about the building. Since the middle of the 8^th century,* the Dome of the Rock has become the focal centre of the most mystical event in the life of the Prophet: ** his ascension into heaven from the rock around which the building was erected. According to an inscription preserved since the erection of the dome, however, it would seem that the building did not originally commemorate the prophet’s ascension but rather the Christology*** of Islam and its relation to Judaism. It seems preferable, therefore, to interpret the Dome of the Rock as a victory monument of the new faith’s ideological and religious claim on a holy city and on all the religious traditions attached to it.’

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*{2048U~768[ce]}

**{? – cf [[Redbook9:148-150][19910420:0953nn]{~The Dome of the Rock (2)}[20th April 1991],] 149}

***{See [[[Redbook9:148-150][19910420:0953nn]{~The Dome of the Rock (2)}[20th April 1991],]] 149}

****– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 79

#– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:79]

#*{See description [[[Redbook9:148-150][19910420:0953nn]{~The Dome of the Rock (2)}[20th April 1991],]] 148}

#**{cf [[[Redbook9:356-][19910511:1817#]{The Poussin Circle}[15th April 1991],]] 359}

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