Umayyad arcitecture for kids

Umayyad Architecture

Dome of the Rock
Dome of the Rock mosque, Jerusalem
People didn't build a lot of new buildings during the Umayyad period, mainly because they were busy getting organized after the Islamic conquests, and because the Umayyad dynasty didn't rule very long. One of the first buildings they did build, in the 600's AD, was the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, on the site where the Jewish temple had been before the Romans destroyed it. Right away you can see that Islamic mosques are very different from Christian churches. Instead of being made like a Roman basilica, long and narrow, the Dome of the Rock is hexagonal (six-sided). The architect may have been thinking of Roman funeral chapels, which were sometimes polygonal (many-sided) like this, or he may have been thinking of early Christian baptistries, which also were polygonal.

Great Mosque in Damascus
Another early Umayyad building was the Great Mosque in the Umayyad capital of Damascus (in modern Syria), which was built about 710 AD. (for the interior, click here).

This was built more like a Christian church, but you'll notice there are no pictures of people on it - only plants and buildings.

Another Umayyad building was the Great Mosque at Cordoba in Spain.

The builders took the many columns from older Roman buildings, which is why they don't match each other. The striped stone, which is also found on the inside of the Dome of the Rock, became a very common choice in Islamic architecture, and was soon copied in Italy too, for instance in the cathedrals of Florence and Pisa.

Kairouan mosque

The last major building of the Umayyad dynasty was built in the 700's AD, in North Africa (modern Tunisia) - the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Kairouan's mosque has the oldest surviving minaret in the world.

Abbasid Architecture
Main Islamic architecture page
Main Islamic Empire page




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