ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān assumes the caliphate (r. 685–705), inaugurating the reign in which major state-building measures and landmark architectural patronage—most notably the Dome of the Rock—take shape.
Under ʿAbd al-Malik, work begins on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, initiating one of the earliest and most influential surviving monuments of Islamic architecture.
A dedicatory inscription inside the Dome of the Rock records the date as AH 72 (691–692 CE), widely taken to mark completion of the building program and its monumental Qur’anic inscriptions and mosaics.
Preparatory works begin when al-Walīd orders a new monumental congregational mosque in Damascus, reusing the existing temenos (enclosure) walls and key elements of the earlier sacred complex on the site.
Al-Walīd I (r. 705–715) becomes caliph, a reign especially associated with major mosque-building projects, including the Great Mosque of Damascus.
Al-Walīd confiscates the Christian basilica of St. John the Baptist in Damascus and undertakes construction of the Great Mosque on the site, a defining moment in the monument’s layered sacred topography.
The Great Mosque of Damascus is constructed during al-Walīd’s reign, creating an early stone-built congregational mosque whose plan and rich mosaics helped set models for later Islamic monumental architecture.
Within the Great Mosque of Damascus, a shrine associated with the relics of St. John the Baptist is incorporated into the mosque’s layout, reflecting continuity of local sacred traditions within an Umayyad monumental setting.
During Abbasid rule, the Dome of the Rock’s dedicatory inscription is altered to substitute the name of the Abbasid caliph al-Maʾmūn for that of the Umayyad patron, while retaining the original AH date.
After the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem (1099), the Dome of the Rock is converted to Christian use, illustrating how the monument’s meaning and function shifted with changes in political control.
Following Saladin’s reconquest of Jerusalem in 1187, the Dome of the Rock returns to Islamic administration and use, reversing Crusader-era modifications to the sanctuary’s function.
During Timur’s 1401 invasion, the Great Mosque of Damascus is destroyed/damaged and later rebuilt, marking a major rupture in the monument’s material history.
Ottoman sultan Süleyman I orders a major restoration that replaces the Dome of the Rock’s exterior decoration with colored ceramic tiles, a defining visual transformation of the building’s exterior.
A major fire in 1893 seriously damages the Great Mosque of Damascus, prompting extensive repairs that further shape the mosque’s modern fabric and appearance.
Umayyad Monumental Architecture: the Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque of Damascus (c. 688–715)
