Syria, Damascus, Church of St. John Baptist 4th cent - A History of Romanesque Architecture 300 - 1300 (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
This marker is part of an illustrated Survey of Romanesque Architecture, 300 to 1300 AD. To see and read all comments you have to download the post to your hard disk.Syria, Damascus Church of St.John Baptist 4th cent - 705
rebuilt as: Great Omayyad Mosque 706 - 715
During Roman times the site was a temple of Jupiter which was in the 4th cent. converted into a Christian church dedicated to John the Baptist. The Muslim conquest of Damascus in 636 did not affect the church, as the site was shared by Muslim and Christian worshippers. The Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I purchased the site and demolished the church. He built the present mosque between 706 and 715 with the help of 200 skilled Byzantine workers: e.g., the mosaics in the overlong (136 x 37 m) prayer hall. Most of this interior decoration was lost in a great fire in 1893. The mosaics on the outside are of recent date.
Interior
Photo kaizergallery.com
It is seen that this building can be rightfully considered a "Romanesque" structure.....