Al-Aqsa Mosque enclave has attracted the interest of many Muslim rulers since the middle of the seventh century C.E. Many buildings were established in al-Aqsa Mosque enclave; such as al-Aqsa congregational Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, the Dome of the Chain and etc... Umayyad buildings were intended to sanctify the site and to verify its Islamic identity. This was clearly seen in the skyline of the city of Islamicjerusalem where the Dome of the Rock is dominating the skyline of the al-Aqsa enclave and the city of islamicjerusalem alike. According to al-Muqdisi; a 10^th century Arab writer: "I had neither seen nor heard of such beautiful building elsewhere".  Indeed, such Umayyad building activities inside and outside al-Aqsa mosque goes beyond only this incentive and was actually aiming at developing the three dimensional image of Umayyad Islamicjerusalem.

 

In the following centuries, other new buildings, rebuilding and renovation work in al-Aqsa mosque enclave were initiated by 'Abbasides, Fatimides, Crusades, Ayyubis  and Mamluks. There is no space in this paper to enumerate them all. Most of subsequent building activities in al-Aqsa mosque enclave carried out after Umayyad period were documented either by inscriptions and calligraphy or by historians. Nevertheless, the Umayyad Islamic identity of the al-Aqsa mosque enclave and of course, the skyline of the city Islamicjerusalem was generally untouched and continued to exist.

 

However, Umayyad image was completely replaced with the rise of the Ottoman rule over Jerusalem in 1517 C.E. Sulayman the Magnificent (r. AH 926–73 / AD 1520–66) interested in developing Islamic religious centers, Makkah, Madinah and the city of Islamicjerusalem. Like Umayyads, his intelligent concerns with the status of Islamicjerusalem in Islam as the center of religious and political powers in the Historical Syria had sparkled his incentive to initiate a new building project in Islamicjerusalem.

 

However, the important and actual incentive of Solayman building proposal in Islamicjerusalem resulted from the strong earthquake that hit Jerusalem in 1546 C.E and 1547 C.E. It measured to be 6.5-6.7 on Richter scale and destroyed the City and many building in al-Aqsa mosque enclave. Hence, he rebuilt the City walls and gates. He also established new other buildings in al-Aqsa mosque enclave. He also carried out some renovation works of historical buildings.

 

What is interesting in terms of Islamic art and architecture of the al-Aqsa mosque enclave is the way that Ottomans dealt with the outstanding Umayyad masterpiece of the site; the Dome of the Rock. They changed the historical and traditional renovation methodology in dealing with this existing old building. Not only the external mosaic coating of the building was completely removed and replaced with new Ottoman ceramic glazed tiles, but also the exterior architectural and artistic coordination of the building were subjected to modifications too. The reason for their approach towards the building is inexplicable from architecture and artistic point of view. It is also inconvincing when considering those justifications suggested by Clermount-Gannue and Richmond, the great scholars of Islamicjerusalem, regarding the reason behind Ottoman glazed ceramic coating of the building. Hence, question arises why such change in the appearance of the dome of the Rock was implemented and Why was this done by Ottomans and not before. What was their hidden agendas that stood behind this work if existed? These are among other questions still awaiting answers. In doing so, the research implemented a multi-disciplinary approach, especially, historical, architectural and deductive ones.          

 

Indeed, when analyzing architectural and artistic Ottomans treatment of the Dome of the Rock it simply takes any argument to a conclusion that: “like Umayyads, Solayman the Magnificent intended to create a distinct Ottoman finger stamp on the building”. His objective not merely required to be documented but to be exercised; by proclaiming Ottomans religious and political power from the al-Aqsa mosque enclave. Like Umayyads, this was intelligently achieved by relating al-Aqsa mosque enclave with the Ottoman capital of the political power; Istanbul. Such link was made with the help of ottoman art and architecture which facilitated the establishment of a relation or a dialogue between the image of the al-Aqsa mosque enclave and the ottoman image resulted from those famous Ottoman architectural ceramic glazed tiled masterpieces such as Topkapi Palace (1460-1478 C.E) and Süleyman’s mosque complex of Süleymaniye in Istanbul (1550–57 C.E). This architectural and artistic technique was very popular to Ottomans at that time in Istanbul.

 

In fact, what actually viewers see inside the al-Aqsa mosque nowadays is an Ottoman external design of the building not that Umayyad one. It is clear that such degree of intervention was unusual in the history of the Dome of the Rock, and to do so, required a direct permission from imminent Ottoman authorities.

 

Conference Title

The 16th International Academic Conference on Islamicjerusalem Studies “Ottomans and Islamicjerusalem”

Conference Country

Turkey

Conference Date

Dec. 7, 2016 - Dec. 12, 2016

Conference Sponsor

Istanbul Zaim University, Istanbul Municipality and Isra Waqf in Turkey

Additional Info

Conference Website