Umayyad Mosque of Damascus (705-715): al-Walid's Great Mosque

The Umayyad Mosque, also called the Great Mosque of Damascus, was built in about 705-715 by the caliph al-Walid I in the heart of the Umayyad capital. It replaced the Christian Church of St John the Baptist, which itself stood inside the enclosure of a great Roman temple. One of the oldest and largest mosques in the world, it set a pattern for congregational mosques from Spain to Central Asia and still preserves some of the finest early Islamic mosaics.

Background: a sacred site in Damascus

Damascus has been a holy place for thousands of years. In the early first millennium BC the Aramaeans built a temple to the storm god Hadad on the site. Under Roman rule, especially in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, it was replaced by a huge temple of Jupiter, whose outer walls and gateways still define the shape of the mosque.

After Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, the temple was turned into a church dedicated to St John the Baptist, probably under the emperor Theodosius I at the end of the 4th century. The church was believed to hold the head of John the Baptist and became an important place of pilgrimage.

Arab Muslim forces took Damascus in 634-635, during the conquests of the Rashidun Caliphate. Under the Umayyad Caliphate, founded in 661, the city became the capital of an empire stretching from the Atlantic to India.

From church to mosque

Later Muslim sources describe a period in which Muslims prayed in part of the temple enclosure while Christians continued to use the church. How the site was actually shared is uncertain, and some historians treat the story with caution.

When al-Walid I came to the throne in 705, he decided to give the capital a mosque worthy of the empire. According to the Arabic historians, he negotiated with the Christian community, offering compensation and confirming their rights to other churches in the city, and then had the church demolished. Al-Walid is said to have struck the first blow himself.

The new mosque was built within the old Roman enclosure, reusing its walls and corner towers. Construction took about ten years and was largely complete by the caliph’s death in 715. Medieval writers report enormous costs, and some claim that the Byzantine emperor sent craftsmen and materials; modern historians debate how far Byzantine workers were involved, but the style of the mosaics clearly draws on Byzantine traditions.

Architecture

The plan

The mosque occupies a rectangle of roughly 157 by 100 metres. The northern part is an open courtyard paved with marble and surrounded on three sides by arcades. The southern part is the prayer hall, which faces south towards Mecca.

The prayer hall consists of three long aisles running parallel to the qibla wall, divided by rows of reused Roman columns. A higher central transept cuts across the aisles towards the main mihrab and is crowned by a dome, known as the Dome of the Eagle. This combination of a courtyard, a wide prayer hall and a central transept influenced many later mosques, including the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

The mosaics

The walls of the courtyard and prayer hall were once covered with gold and coloured glass mosaics over a very large area. They show riverside landscapes, trees, palaces, houses and pavilions, but no human or animal figures, in keeping with the practice of Islamic religious buildings.

The best-preserved section is on the west portico. Known as the Barada panel after the river that flows through Damascus, it is about 34 metres long. Scholars have interpreted these scenes in different ways: as images of paradise, as a picture of the cities of the Umayyad empire, or as a celebration of Damascus itself.

Minarets and courtyard buildings

The mosque has three minarets. The Minaret of the Bride on the north wall dates in part from the 9th century. The Minaret of Jesus at the south-east corner is linked with a Muslim tradition that Jesus will descend there at the end of time. The Minaret of Qaytbay at the south-west corner was rebuilt in 1488 by the Mamluk sultan of that name.

In the courtyard stands the Dome of the Treasury, a small domed structure raised on columns, built in 789 under the Abbasids to hold the mosque’s funds. A fountain and a smaller domed pavilion also stand in the courtyard.

Later history

When the Abbasid Caliphate overthrew the Umayyads in 750, Damascus lost its status as capital, but the mosque remained the city’s main place of worship. The traveller Ibn Jubayr, who visited in 1184, described it as one of the wonders of the world.

The building has been badly damaged several times. A great fire in 1069 destroyed much of the original decoration. In 1401 Timur’s army sacked Damascus and the mosque was burned again. Another devastating fire in 1893 gutted the prayer hall, which was then rebuilt under the Ottomans. Each time the mosque was restored, but much of the original Umayyad mosaic work was lost and some was restored in the 20th century.

Saladin, who died in Damascus in 1193, was buried in a mausoleum just outside the north wall. Inside the mosque, a shrine believed to contain the head of John the Baptist (the prophet Yahya in Islam) is venerated by Muslims and Christians alike. A shrine in the eastern part of the complex is associated with the head of Husayn ibn Ali, killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680, and draws Shia pilgrims.

In 2001 Pope John Paul II visited the mosque, becoming the first pope to make a formal visit to a mosque. The Old City of Damascus, including the mosque, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Key people

• al-Walid I (r. 705-715): the Umayyad caliph who ordered the mosque built; he also sponsored major works at Medina and Jerusalem.
• John the Baptist (Yahya): the prophet revered by Christians and Muslims, whose relic gave the site its special holiness.
• Ibn Jubayr (1145-1217): an Andalusian traveller whose account of his visit in 1184 is one of the best medieval descriptions of the mosque.
• Saladin (1137/1138-1193): the sultan of Egypt and Syria, buried beside the mosque’s north wall.

Myths and facts

• Myth: the mosque was built from nothing. Al-Walid’s builders reused the walls, gates and columns of the Roman temple, and the shape of the mosque follows the ancient enclosure.
• Myth: the mosaics are all original. Fires in 1069, 1401 and 1893 destroyed much of them; some panels survive, but others were restored or recreated in modern times.
• Fact: Christians and Muslims both venerate the site. The shrine of John the Baptist inside the prayer hall makes it a place of respect for both faiths.

Timeline

• Late 4th century: the Roman temple becomes the Church of St John the Baptist.
• 634-635: Arab Muslim forces take Damascus.
• 705: al-Walid I becomes caliph and orders the church demolished.
• c. 715: the mosque is largely complete at al-Walid’s death.
• 789: the Dome of the Treasury is built in the courtyard.
• 1069: a major fire damages the mosque.
• 1401: Timur’s troops sack Damascus and burn the mosque.
• 1893: a fire destroys much of the prayer hall, which is rebuilt.
• 2001: Pope John Paul II visits the mosque.

Why it matters

The Umayyad Mosque shows how the early Islamic empire took over and transformed the sacred places of the ancient world. Its plan and mosaics influenced mosque architecture for centuries, and its long history of destruction and restoration mirrors the history of Damascus itself. Shared in reverence by Muslims and Christians, it remains one of the great religious buildings of the world.