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Middle Ages
  • The Foundation Stone G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, via Wikimedia Commons
    The Foundation Stone G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, via Wikimedia Commons
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  • The Dome of the Rock
Middle Ages

The Dome of the Rock and the Foundation Stone

In the picture: The Dome of the Rock (the gold dome) was built by the Umayyad rulers at the end of the seventh century, after which the Al Aqsa Mosque was built. The Dome of the Rock commemorates the ascension of Mohammad to heaven from the bedrock on the Temple Mount (the “Foundation Stone”), at the place where according to Jewish tradition the First Temple and the Second Temple were built. Until the Jews were banned from the Mount in the early eighth century, they saw to the maintenance buildings in the compound.