Qubbat al-Khazna

Coordinates: 33°30′42″N 36°18′22″E / 33.511699°N 36.30608°E

Qubbat al-Khazna (Arabic: قبة الخزنة Qubbat al-Khazna), meaning the "Dome of the Treasury", is an old structure, located inside the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. It is an octagonal structure decorated with mosaics, standing on eight Roman columns.^[1] The Dome of the Treasury, like the mosque's prayer hall facade, was once completely covered in the colorful mosaic decoration for which the mosque was famous.^[2] The dome was built under orders from the governor of Damascus, Fadl ibn Salih, in 789.^[3]

The dome used to hold the mosque's large endowments.^[4] Some Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Georgian old manuscripts were also housed in Qubbat al-Khazna in the past (e.g. Uncial 0126, 0144, 0145).^[5][6] The manuscripts were generally kept out of view, but when German Emperor Wilhelm II visited Damascus in 1898, accompanying German scholars were allowed to handle them as a special favor, and for a limited time only.^[4]

References

1. Syria. Damascus. Omayyad Mosque. The Dome of the Treasury Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
2. Walker, Bethany J. (Mar 2004). "Commemorating the Sacred Spaces of the Past: The Mamluks and the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus". Near Eastern Archaeology. The American Schools of Oriental Research. 67 (1): 26–39. doi:10.2307/4149989.
3. • Cobb, Paul M. (2001). White banners: contention in ʻAbbāsid Syria, 750-880. SUNY Press. p. 151. ISBN 0-7914-4880-0.
4. Margoliouth, David S. (2010). Cairo, Jerusalem & Damascus: Three Chief Cities of the Egyptian Sultans. Cosimo, Inc. p. 400. ISBN 978-1-61640-065-1.
5. Pasquale Orsini, P. Radiciotti-A.D'Ottone, I frammenti della Qubbat al-khazna di Damasco. A proposito di una scoperta sottovalutata, "Nea Rhome" 5 (2008), pp. 45-74
6. Arianna D'Ottone, I frammenti della Qubbat al-khazna di Damasco. A proposito di una scoperta sottovalutata

Bibliography

• Arianna D'Ottone, Manuscript as Mirror of a Multi-lingual and Multi-cultural Society. The case of the Damascus find, [in:] Convivencia in Byzantium? Cultural Exchanges in a Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Lingual Society, edited by B. Crostini-S. La Porta, Trier, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2013, pp. 63–88.

External links

• M. M. Sharif, The First Three Centuries of Muslim Architecture, Wiesbaden 1966.