UMAYYAD MOSQUE (JAAMEA OMMAWI)
This testimony of As-Safi, less than years after the construction of the mosque, says all the admiration it aroused at that time. Despite the injures of time, the Great Mosque in Damascus remains a monument to Islamic art and a symbol of the brilliance of the young Arab-Muslim civilization. The Great Mosque in Damascus, built in the early hours of Islam, sets the architectural canons meeting the demands of new worship: large prayer room, courtyard, minaret, monument orientation, well, decoration…
Islam signs a model work of the large mosques that will spread into the empire, from Cordoba to Samarra through Cairo.
The history of the site began well before Islam. The original temple dedicated to the Hadad divinité Divinité was transformed into the sanctuary of Jupiter damascene in the third century of our era. The outer enclosure was 385 m (north and south sides) on 305 m (east and west sides). The inner enclosure (téménos) was guarded by four towers, while four doors, themselves preceded by a propylée (or Roman bow), were advertised by the outer enclosure (péribole). At the exit of the Hamidiyé souk, the remains of the western propylée are still visible. Another relic of that period, the old wall of the péribole, which surrounded the inner enclosure, is preserved throughout its entire length on the west side of the mosque (entrance of the faithful). Under Théodose (379-395), while Christianity is official religion and pagan cults are banned, a church replaces the temple. With the installation of the Umayyad in Damascus from 661, Muslims coexisted with Christians in this sacred ensemble. Alongside the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the church's differences activities were held in a modest mosque on the southern side of the building (towards Mecca). In 705, caliph omeyyade Walid I put an end to this cohabitation and decided to give Islam the most impressive edifice ever built. In exchange, Christians are given other places. Symbol of the influence of the new faith, the mosque was completed in eight years. More than ten thousand workers took turns for its construction.
By entering the mosque by the Bab al-Amara, the visitor is at the outset surprised both by the vastness of the court (122 m on 55 m), and by violent light, reflected by white marble, which places the place out of time and as out of space. This large quadrilateral (sahn) serves as much public space, where the children play, people eat or sleep… as an outside extension of the prayer room.
In front of the entrance, a long facade closes the courtyard: This is the prayer room. In its centre, a pediment-style pediment is covered from a splendid mosaic to large trees.
The portico west, on the right of the entrance, retains very worked marble moucharabiehs as well as the only mosaics saved by the time that originally lifted all the walls of the portico from 6,50 m from the ground. This panel describes imaginary landscapes of cities with lush vegetation and streams. These mosaics will express the riches of the Irrigates, oasis of Damascus, where the palaces and towns of the Umayyad enjoy abundant and generous vegetation on the edge of the Barada. Another more classic version: This wonderful plant universe would be the image of Paradise as described by the Koran in surat 13 (Thunder). " This is the promised garden to those who fear: the garden where rivers flow; it will provide them with food and an inexhaustible shadow. '»»»»
The geometric motifs carved in marble represent the oldest models of web of Islamic art.
In the courtyard, an elegant open, worn by eight mass columns to the beautiful corinthians capitals, is covered with a mosaïque mosaic. It was the CRF (Kubbet al-Khazneh or Beit al-Mal) where dinars were stored in the young Omeyyade state. At the opposite is the dome of the Clocks called this because, until 1950, this is where all the clocks of the mosque shed. The pool of. in the centre of the town dates back to the Ottoman period. From this point, we have the three minarets of the mosque, each built in a different style.
The Fiancée Minaret (Al-Arous), north, above the entrance of tourists, was first restored in 1034 in its lower part and later a century later in its upper part. Its square tower is surmounted by an end Ottoman minaret. It is the first to launch the call for prayer resumed by the other mosques of the city.
The minaret of Jesus (south-east) was built in the XIII. It is said that on the day of the Last Judgment, Christ will come to fight the Antichrist. Al-Gharbiyé minaret (southwest) was completely rebuilt in 1488 by Sultan Qaït Bey, in the very colourful style of Des that prevailed at the time.
The prayer room opens in front of the tourist entrance, on the South Wall. It was strongly renovated after the fire of 1893 and retained its original plan. It is a huge nave, highly stripped, of rectangular shape with three vessels, separated by a double row of columns with antique capitals. In the middle, the nave is cut by a transept surmounted in its centre by a dome, known as the dome of the Eagle, dating from the reconstruction of the prayer room. The transept faces the main mihrab, a small niche in the wall of haraam, which indicates the direction of Mecca. At the right of the dome of the Eagle is the chair (minbar), only furniture from the mosque, and where the imam leads prayer on Friday. But here the ceilings like all decoration date back to the restoration of the last century. It is also the case of the tomb of Saint John-Baptiste, revered by the Muslims under the name of Yahia (prophet, son of the prophet Zacharie in the Koran). The green of the tomb indicates the presence of the saint. It would contain a valuable relic: the skull of the saint decapitated by Herod. Here, by sitting on the beautiful carpets that cover the room, we can let ourselves be enchanted by the serenity of the places or observe the faithful, turned to the profane in prayer or listening to the oldest, seated on raised carpets, which provide their knowledge to those who come to consult them.
Practically at the end of the nave, a well surmounted by two fossil columns was used to feed spell basins. The door near the well brings us back to the marble courtyard. On the right, leaving the prayer room, take a look at the vestibule marbles described above.
Towards the East Portico, Shia, mostly Iranian, come to gather on the grave of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who fell to the Battle of Karbala in 680. His head, according to legend, was reportedly reported to Damascus and placed by the Yazid Ier I in a niche, in order to ridicule all supporters of Ali. Today Hussein remains the greatest martyr. The Shi'a in tears, coming to worship the greatest martyr of Shia Islam, offer the spectacle of extreme, strong and moving devotion.
See also other Shia worship in Damascus: Rouqqaya mosque near the Umayyad Mosque and the Saida Zeinab mosque in the south-east suburb on the Souweida road.