Umayyad Mosque of Damascus

Alain George is Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture ay the University of Oxford and Fellow of Wolfson College.

Alain George offers the results of a fascinating investigation into the earliest mosque of Islam. Mobilizing literary as well as documentary sources, archaeology, art history, and old photographs, the book provides a vivid picture of the monument as it was designed and erected at the very beginning of the eighth century. At the crossroads of wars against Byzantium, theological debates and imperial construction, the Umayyad mosque stands as a stone palimpsest and a poem to the glory of Islam. An amazing scientific and aesthetic tour de force, which will become an indispensable reference for historians and will seduce architecture lovers. Mathieu Tillier, Sorbonne Universite; The Umayyad mosque in Damascus is one of the great monuments of Islamic architecture and the most impressive surviving eighth century building in Western Eurasia. It also has a long and complex history of rebuilding after fires and other disasters. For the first time we now have a book which does full justice to it. Alain George has used text, archaeology and perhaps most revealingly, old photographs to produce a rich scholarly, readable and exciting account of the mosque. This book marks a major advance in our understanding of the building and will be the first port of call for scholars and students alike who want to understand it. It is a magnificent achievement.- Hugh Kennedy SOAS, London University; This is an important study that brings many fresh insights to a building that has already generated much scholarship. Alain George is to be commended on his masterful examination of architectural, archaeological, textual, and photographic evidence. The author is sensitive to the need to resolve discontinuities between primary textual accounts and the physical record of the standing structures and excavated material. Comparative evidence is used effectively to illuminate the ways in which practices or features located in the Damascus mosque are part of a larger cultural framework. This book will be read by specialists, but will also gain a wider readership among researchers engaged with similar problems in other regions and historical periods -Marcus Milwright, University of Victoria, Canada.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: A Day in the Life of DamascusThe Story So FarThe Present Book1. Palimpsests in Stone and Layered Texts: The Multiple Histories of the Umayyad MosqueThe Mosque and its Historiography until the Ottoman EraThe Syrian Historiographical TraditionEarly Travel Relations and Geographical WorksThe Mosque in the Abbasid and Fatimid PeriodsThe Fire of 1069 and the Later History of the MosqueThe Mosque since the Nineteenth CenturyThe Fire of 1893The Earliest Photographs of the MosqueRestorations of the 1920s to 1960sPhotographs of the 1920s to 1940s2.Tangled Memories: The Temple, Church, and First MosqueThe Cella of the Roman TempleLayout of the SiteThe 1962–63 SoundingsIdentification of the RemainsFootprint of the CellaCella Elevation and ProportionsThe Church within the Temenos and the First MosqueTextual Narratives of ConversionAn Elusive ChurchLocation of the ChurchThe First Mosque and the Gate of the KhaḍrāʾThe Church and the Cella 3. The Politics of Buildings: The Destruction of the Church and Construction of the MosqueThe Three Poems, the Foundation Inscription, and the Destruction of the ChurchThe Destruction as Divine WisdomThe Church, Justinian II, and Maslama’sAnatolian CampaignsThe (Lost) Foundation Inscription and the Date of the MosqueThe Aphrodito Papyri and the Logistics of ConstructionSupply Networks for Labour and MaterialsConstruction SupervisorsBeyond AphroditoJustinian II and Umayyad Building ProjectsGethsemane and the Columns of MeccaJustinian II and the Mosque of DamascusThe Byzantine Mosaicists at MedinaThe Banū Manṣūr Between the Umayyads and Heraclians 4. Silenced and Imagined Pasts: The Church in the Fabric of the Umayyad MosqueScattered Echoes of the Church in the MosqueThe TranseptThe Corner TowersThe Mosque DoorsInventing the Relics of the BaptistAbsence of the Relics in Christian SourcesMuslim Traditions About the RelicsThe Origins of the Bayt al-M lThe Bayt al-Māl in Arabic SourcesThe Bayt al-Māl and the Typology of the Baptistery 5. A Vast Expanse of Splendour: Towards a Reconstruction of the Umayyad MosqueStructureCourtyard ArcadesPrayer Hall ArcadesThe TranseptThe DomePrayer Hall FaçadeWindows and Door HangingsPavement and Floor LevelsThe Bayt al-Māl ChamberMerlonsRoofingColumns and ColonnettesGates and VestibulesThe North MinaretWater Reservoirs and Ablution FacilitiesOrnamentMarble DadoMosaicsThe Vine Frieze with Precious StonesThe Central Mihrab and MinbarThe Mosaic InscriptionCeilingsLamps, Lighting, and IncensePaint on Capitals and Columns6. ‘Jewelled Embellishments Dazzle’: The Mosque and Umayyad AestheticsThe Novelty of al-Wal d’s BuildingEmbodying PowerWork ProceduresReshaping Building TypesRecasting Mosaic FormsPoetic Composition and the MosqueMosaics, Empire and PolysemyParadise and Earthly DominionThe Horizon of JudgementThe Art of PolysemyThe Craft of PerceptionAl-Nābigha and the Intensity of Sacred SpaceThe Mosque as a Foil for the Qurʾan Appendix 1Three Umayyad Poems about the Mosque of Damascus and the Destruction of the Church Arabic Text and Translation by Nadia JamilJarīrAl-FarazdaqAl-Nabigha al-ShaybānīAppendix 2The Description of the Great Mosque ofDamascus by al-Muqaddas in the Tenth century Arabic Text and Translation by Alain GeorgeNotesBibliographyIndex