جامع دمشق ٣_a .. كتاب العمارة العربية الاسلامية

The white one is engraved with various geometric designs and designs in each window, as it is one of the most original and artistically beautiful elements of the mosque.

D - Minarets: The temple had, as we said, four towers, of which nothing remained when the Al-Walid Mosque was built, except for the two southern towers, which were taken into two minarets. Then a third minaret was built next to the northern door in the form of a square tower (1). It was later known as the Bride's Minaret. The lower part of the aforementioned minaret is still authentic, and above it is a section that was new in the Ayyubid era after a fire in the year 570 AH (1174). We can distinguish double windows within an arch on each side of the minaret. As for the upper section, it was renewed at the beginning of this century.

The eastern minaret was built above the temple tower and was called the Minaret of Jesus. It burned and collapsed more than once, most recently in the earthquake of 1759. The construction of its lower section dates back to the Mamluk era and its upper section to the Ottoman era. It was renewed shortly after the aforementioned earthquake. It was restored again without any modification in our modern era.

As for the western minaret, it is the most beautiful of the minarets. It was also built on top of the temple tower. The inscriptions engraved on it indicate that it was renewed during the days of Sultan Qaytbay in the year 893 / 1488 AD following a fire that befell it. It had had mercy before that, as the sources mentioned, after Tamerlane’s invasion that occurred in the year 1401 AD (Photo No. 52).

E - The scenes: We notice in the plan of the mosque four large rectangular halls with almost equal dimensions distributed on both sides of the eastern and western doors. They were known in ancient times as scenes, and each of them was attributed to one of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs. The southeastern scene is called the scene of Abu Bakr, the southern scene is Omar’s scene, the northwestern scene is called Uthman’s scene, and the northern scene is called Othman’s scene. The eastern one, Mashhad Ali, was then called Mashhad Al-Hussein. During historical times, the names of these sites changed and they were used for various purposes: for teaching, prayer, meetings, bookcases, and warehouses.

And - decorative elements:

The Umayyad decorations that decorated the mosque consisted of two main elements: mosaics and marble. Originally, mosaics covered the upper sections of the walls, inside and outside, in the sanctuary and the corridors, as well as the arches and the interior of the arches. It immediately follows the marble cladding that covers the bottom of the walls, at a height of approximately four meters above the ground.

This marble was of the “marbled” type, and perhaps they meant by that that it was composed in such a way that it resembled the lines in the slices of tree trunks. The veined marble was cut into four slices and then stacked together to create a decorative shape. This marble was destroyed due to numerous earthquakes and fires. Its location is indicated by the holes we see in the stones of the walls, which the marblers used to make to hold the heavy pieces of marble.

Fortunately, the vestibule of Bab Giron preserves an example of authentic marble (Photo No. 13 bis). The inlaid Umayyad marble is also similar to the marble in the Dome of the Rock and in the Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul.

The interlaced marble in the Umayyad Mosque was interspersed with pieces of marble bearing decorations engraved with floral or geometric themes. Authentic pieces of them are found in the vestibule of Bab Jirun. Other pieces were also found during excavations and preserved in the Damascus National Museum.

Historical accounts spoke of “a great vine of gold that surrounded the walls of the sanctuary directly under the mosaics (we believe that what is meant by this famous vine is a strip of marble engraved with drawings representing plant veins composed of grape leaves, which are common decorations in classical architecture (Roman and Byzantine), and the aforementioned marble strip was Plated with gold water or gold leaf.

As for the remainder of the marble in other areas of the plate and pillars, it is from later periods or is newly made. In the Ottoman era, blue faience panels replaced the missing marbling. We see precious pieces of it in the courtyard and in the vestibule of the post office.

As for the marbling seen on the walls of the sanctuary, the mihrab, and the pulpit, it is recent, dating back to after the last fire. The making of the mihrab was perfected and it became a modern masterpiece of Islamic art in its final days. As for the mosaics, most of them have also disappeared, but what remains of them is considered a priceless artistic wealth. We see it on the wall of the western courtyard gallery, in the vestibule of the post office door, and on the facade of the passageway (Photos 12 and 13).

Umayyad mosaics are dominated by lobes made of colored glass, and lobes of silver and gold. The latter were made by placing gold leaf or silver paint on the page of the glass lobes, then covering them with a thin layer of transparent glass to preserve the gold and silver. It is noted that these lobes, in particular, were paved at an angle towards the ground so that their colors would be reflected in the eyes of the viewer, and their brilliance would appear (1).

The glass lobes are interspersed with a few stone and marble lobes. Pieces of shell are used when needed, especially when referring to lamps hung by chains installed in the interior of building arches.

The size of the lobes is approximately a cube with a side length of one centimeter.

The Umayyad mosaics are also distinguished by the fact that their themes are free of any theme, as they are limited to nature scenes, buildings, and plant and geometric decorations. It is believed that the painting of the Western Gallery represents the Barada River, on its banks, palaces, palaces, and bridges, which represent beautiful villages interspersed with trees of different types, including fruitful and non-fruitful. These scenes are surrounded by a frame of geometric decoration. Some see this mosaic as an embodiment of the scenes of Paradise, as depicted in the Holy Qur’an. But we only see in it what the ancient poets, geographers, and travelers saw in it: (pictures, palaces, trees, and cities, the mihrab of which was designated with an image representing Mecca and the Holy Kaaba).

Among the remaining mosaics to this day, we can see pieces whose manufacture dates back to restorations that took place in the Seljuk, Ayyubid, and Mamluk eras. They can be distinguished by the method of manufacture and the architectural elements represented in them.

There is a piece bearing the name of King Al-Adil Nur al-Din Mahmoud from the twelfth century AD, in the wall of the eastern corridor, and another bearing the name of al-Zahir Baybars in the corridor of the post door.

The Umayyad mosaics were interspersed with inscriptions and Qur’anic verses, especially in the sanctuary, which were talked about by ancient historians, such as Al-Masoudi (1), who saw in his day (year 332 / 943) the historical text of the construction of the mosque written in mosaics, and the lobes of the text were gilded on a ground of blue lobes, and this is an explanation. For his statement: Al-Walid ordered it to be written in gold on the lapis lazuli, and Al-Muhallabi (2) also referred to surahs from the Qur’an written in mosaic. We see such writing today in the Umayyad Dome of the Rock mosaic. It is similar, as we believe, to the writings executed on the mosaics of the Damascus Mosque in the days of Al-Walid.

In addition to these two elements, the mosaics and marble, as well as the marble windows and plaster windows decorated with stained glass, decorations and embellishments covered every corner and every architectural element of the mosque. Its doors are armored with gilded copper. This was the case during the reign of Al-Maqdisi in the fourth century AH. But it has been renewed and restored.

The ones that exist now date back to the Mamluk era and are covered with pressed copper and decorated with drawings, writings, and nicks. Gilding as an element of adornment was noticeable in other places. Al-Istakhri mentioned that the capitals of the columns were made of gold: (and the necklaces of the bas-relief heads were made of gold). What he means by this is that it is plated with gold, and when he described the ceiling, he said that its ceiling was made of gilded wood, and the entire floor of the ceiling was made of gold. Al-Yaqoubi (1) said: “And its roof is made of wood. This is the whole view.” He meant that the wood was obscured by the gilded decorations. Al-Omari, who is from the eighth century AH, described the ceiling by saying: It is covered with linings made with gold, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, asphalt, and dyes of one color and those combined of two colors. He meant by this that the wood is obscured by the gilded decorations. Al-Omari, who was from the eighth century AH, described the ceiling by saying: “It is covered with cladding made of gold, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, saffidae, and dyes of one color and those combined of two colors.

This description applies to the decorated ceilings of the type known as Ajami, which are seen in the halls of Levantine houses and in the current ceilings adjacent to the Eagle Dome.