Just about the only vestige of Abbasid rule in Damascus, the Treasury Dome is thought to have been constructed in the second half of the 8th century under Governor Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali, during what was for Syria in general and Damascus in particular a desolate dark age. This is hardly surprising given the relentless war of extermination then waged by the Abbasid against everything Omayyad; a war that claimed even tombs and graveyards and spared practically nothing though it stopped short of destroying the venerable Great Mosque.
The edicule known as the Treasury Dome is therefore most likely Abbasid but it should be kept in mind that several of its elements are clearly Classical, namely the 8 granite half-columns topped by Corinthian crowns. The structure supported by those columns was surmounted by a cupola made of lead.
We have already seen that the mosaics of the Great Mosque (not just the dome in question) were covered with a layer of lime under the Ottomans, somewhere between 1664 and 1855. What prompted the authorities then in charge to hide the mosaics is anyone's guess but mostly inconsequential; knowingly or not, they have saved those priceless treasures for the pleasure and gratitude of future generations. The first photo dates from prior to 1885 and the credit goes to the illustrious French photographer Félix Bonfils.
The 1893 great fire was the last in a long series of calamities the Great Mosque had endured since its erection. The Omayyad's most celebrated landmark was subsequently raised from its ashes and several of its walls, including the Treasury Dome, restored and repainted -in the style of the 18th century Damascene opulent residences- with horizontal bands where we see the alternating colors of blue-black, white, and red-orange. This we identify in the second photo the date of which is October 12, 1921.
The task of uncovering the mosaics fell to the French scholar Eustache de Lorey, the first director of Damascus' French Institute (Institut Français de Damas) in the late 1920's. The mosaics in all their beauty are visible in the third and final photo from 2010.
The edicule known as the Treasury Dome is therefore most likely Abbasid but it should be kept in mind that several of its elements are clearly Classical, namely the 8 granite half-columns topped by Corinthian crowns. The structure supported by those columns was surmounted by a cupola made of lead.
We have already seen that the mosaics of the Great Mosque (not just the dome in question) were covered with a layer of lime under the Ottomans, somewhere between 1664 and 1855. What prompted the authorities then in charge to hide the mosaics is anyone's guess but mostly inconsequential; knowingly or not, they have saved those priceless treasures for the pleasure and gratitude of future generations. The first photo dates from prior to 1885 and the credit goes to the illustrious French photographer Félix Bonfils.
The 1893 great fire was the last in a long series of calamities the Great Mosque had endured since its erection. The Omayyad's most celebrated landmark was subsequently raised from its ashes and several of its walls, including the Treasury Dome, restored and repainted -in the style of the 18th century Damascene opulent residences- with horizontal bands where we see the alternating colors of blue-black, white, and red-orange. This we identify in the second photo the date of which is October 12, 1921.
The task of uncovering the mosaics fell to the French scholar Eustache de Lorey, the first director of Damascus' French Institute (Institut Français de Damas) in the late 1920's. The mosaics in all their beauty are visible in the third and final photo from 2010.
Photo credit
Félix Bonfils
Fonds Max Van Berchem
Mission Frédéric Gadmer et Lucien Le Saint au Proche-Orient
Collection Albert Kahn
Les relevés des mosaïques de la grande mosquée de damas
Loreline Simonis
Louvre Éditions
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