Jerusalem2001 - Muslim Quarter

Muslim Quarter is the largest quarter of all four quarters of Old City of Jerusalem.
It is most colorful and chaotic quarter also, crowded with tourist and piligrims all over the world.
The symbol of this quarter is the Mosque of Omar and could be seeing from any place in Jerusalem.
Some buildings, which is very rare this days, presents the ancient features of Mamluk.
In additional to all this we couldn't miss famous muslim markets with all it's unusual colors and tastes.

Now we'll pass a pretty long way through the Jerusalem Souk (Arabic for market), with all it's very unusual and rare foods, seeds, spices, which you could find only here and get to the Mosque of Omar...

Originally on this site the first square-shaped mosque built in 640 by the caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, but in 687 it was replaced with a building of incomparable beauty by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, caliph of the Omayyad dynasty, which called the Qubbat es-Sakhrah (the Dome of the Rock), which is incorrectly, but universally called The Mosque Of Omar.
In XII century it was transformed into a Christian Church called Templum Domini, but was returned to muslims in 1187 by Saladin.
It rises in rectangular enclosure on a platform reached by four staircases that culminate colonnaded porticoes known as "mawazim", that is, scales. According to Islam, scales to weight souls will be hung on the Day of Judgement.

The exterior of the mosque of Omar has two overlapping layers of decorations: a colored marble band below, blue faince tiles with arabesques above, that Suleiman the Magnificient had made at Kashan in Persia.
The pediment was embellished in 1876 with an inscription praising the glories of Allah.
The work was done by the famous Turkish calligrapher Mohammed Chadif.

The interior is divided by a double colonnade of 12 pillars and 28 monolithic columns made of fine marbles taken from Christian churches which were destroyed by Sassanian invasion in 614.
A few steps down leads us to the grotto below the rock. Muslims call it the "The Well of the Souls".
They believe that all souls will meet here on the Judgement Day.
The cupola, is covered with gold and plaster decorations. Light filters trough the windows and the air is filled with the fragrances of tamarisk and jasmine oil burning in the censers, in order to create an atmosphere that would give the faithful a taste of Paradise as they walked around the rotunda.