Descripción del sitio
This mosque was founded in 715, though the building began life as a Roman temple, an unknown number of years earlier. Unlike the Umayyad mosque of Damascus, this mosque has been destroyed (by earthquake and fire) and rebuilt several times, loosing much of the distinctive Umayyad architecture style. The only thing that distinguishes the mosque as Umayyad is the fact that it was orignially built by Umayyads, and its original floor plan. The courtyard is famous for its black and white stone pavement, clearly visible in the satellite photo. I assume this was a later addition to the mosque, but while major reconstructions happened under the Ayyubids in 1159, and after the Mongol invasion in 1260, the date of the courtyard paving has remained elusive. Inside the mosque is a shrine to Zachariah, father of John the Baptizer, and an elaborately carved minbar from the 15th century. Tangentially, I like how it is possible to pinpoint photographs taken in the courtyard of this mosque, because the tile pattern on the ground is so clear in the satellite photo.