Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem

Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock isn't a mosque but literally a dome built over a rock. After conquering Jerusalem in the 7th century, the 9th Islamic Caliph, Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount - the high flat area of Jerusalem where the first and second Jewish temples had stood.

Since then, the Dome of the Rock has served as a flag of victory for whoever conquered Jerusalem. When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem, they turned the Dome of the Rock into a church. When Saladin re-captured Jerusalem in the 12th century, he turned it back into an Islamic shrine.

When the Israeli army captured it in 1967, however, the Israeli government granted its management to a Muslim trust to keep peace. Today, the Dome of the Rock is officially managed by the religious ministry of Jordan, Israel's eastern neighbor.

Dome of the Rock is constructed from wood but its exterior facade is porcelain, which simply sits on an octagonal marble base. The gold-covered dome is fairly new, as it was covered with lead until 1963, and then with gold-colored aluminum until 1993.

Travel Tip
Non-Muslims can enter the Temple Mount area only via the access ramp from the Western Wall plaza down below. The security check on the access ramp is tight and your bags will be searched for both potentially dangerous and non-Islamic religious materials. If anything is found, you will have to leave it with the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint and make a half-mile loop to the north to pick it up (you cannot exit the Temple Mount area via the same ramp that connects the Temple Mount to the Western Wall plaza below). Non-Muslims' access into the Dome of the Rock itself varies from limited to blocked depending on the level of prevailing political and religious tensions.