muslim jerusalem building dome 3d model - MUSLIM JERUSALEM BUILDING Dome of the Rock by De Espona

The Dome of the Rock is located at the visual center of an ancient man-made platform known as the Temple Mount to the Jews and the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) to the Muslims. The platform, greatly enlarged under the rule of Herod the Great, was the former site of the Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In 637 AD, Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate army during the Islamic invasion of the Byzantine Empire.

The Dome of the Rock was erected between 685 and 691 AD. The names of the two engineers in charge of the project are given as Yazid ibn Salam from Jerusalem and Raja ibn Haywah from Baysan. Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan who initiated construction of the Dome, hoped that it would “house the Muslims from cold and heat” [2], and intending the building to serve as a shrine for pilgrims and not as a mosque for public worship. [3] Historians contend that the Caliph wished to create a structure which would compete with the existing buildings of other religions in the city.