Qubbat al-Khazna - Umayyad Mosque - Syria

Qubbat al-Khazna ( ar, قبة الخزنة, Qubbat al-Khaznah, lit=Dome of the Treasury), also known as the Bayt al-Mal or Beit al-Mal, is an old structure within the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is an octagonal structure decorated with mosaics, standing on eight

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

columns. The dome was built under orders from the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

governor of Damascus,

Fadl ibn Salih Al-Faḍl ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās ( ar, الفضل بن صالح بن علي بن عبد الله العباسي) (740Tabari, Hillenbrand, 1989, p.55.–789) was the Abbasid governor of a number of different pr ...

, in 789. The exterior walls of the structure were originally covered in colorful mosaic decoration which imitated the earlier

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

-era mosaics in the rest of the mosque, although they are of slightly lesser quality than the latter. The mosaics were restored in 13th or 14th century and then in the late 20th century they were almost entirely redone based on existing fragments. The Roman columns that were re-used for the structure's pillars were truncated to achieve the desired height but preserve original Roman-era

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

. The dome used to hold the mosque's large endowments. Some Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Georgian old manuscripts were also housed in Qubbat al-Khazna in the past (e.g.

Uncial 0126 Uncial 0126 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 36 ( Soden), Hermann von Soden, ''Die Schriften des neuen Testaments, in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt / hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte'' (Berlin 1902), vol. 1, p. 124. is a ...

, 0144, 0145).Arianna D'Ottone
''I frammenti della Qubbat al-khazna di Damasco. A proposito di una scoperta sottovalutata''
/ref> The manuscripts were generally kept out of view, but were allowed to be handled briefly by German scholars when German Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

visited Damascus in 1898.

References

Bibliography

* Arianna D'Ottone
''Manuscript as Mirror of a Multi-lingual and Multi-cultural Society. The case of the Damascus find''
n:Convivencia in Byzantium? Cultural Exchanges in a Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Lingual Society, edited by B. Crostini-S. La Porta, Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2013, pp. 63–88.

External links

{{Commons category, Qubbat al-Khazna * M. M. Sharif
The First Three Centuries of Muslim Architecture
Wiesbaden 1966. Buildings and structures inside the walled city of Damascus Architecture in Syria Buildings and structures completed in 789