Clearly, the golden dome, which would
impact the city’s skyline in the local area, references the field of paradise
that its foundational devotion provides access to, both literally and
conceptually. An equally remarkable trait of this work is its carefully
considered relationships between part-to-part, and their relationships to
create greater forms and span spaces.
For example, light and rounded columns alternate with dense, perpendicularly-angled pilasters that perhaps function as buttresses (the columns seem much more decorative). The ratio is three-to-one in the inner and two-to-one in the outer aisles. The architects have gracefully created simultaneous curvilinear and angled forms in the collective arrangement of these weight-bearing elements, a design choice that would become thematic.
Nearly every surface, within and without, is drowning in gorgeous and conflicting floral and geometric patterning which globally develops the rich sumptuousness characteristic of Islamic expression in equal measure to the gilded surfaces of this example. Facades, voids, arcades, colonnades, the circular “flow” of the interior, all directing toward the verticality of the sanctuary, are in simply masterful harmonious, almost static (if not for the decoration) relationships one to each other. Fulfilling a list of functional and aesthetic purposes, to me this building is foremost a work of design.
The Dome of the Rock, beyond its beautiful aesthetic and formal qualities, is a shrine. According to tradition, the buttress of rock, or Haram al-Sharif, housed in its sanctuary is associated with four events of great importance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. To all, it was the location where God created Adam, where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and the ancient site of Solomon’s temple. To the Muslims, it is the location of Muhammad’s ascension to heaven to receive instruction from Allah. After Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is the most sacred site of the Muslim faith.
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