Great Mosque, Damascus, Syria

The Umayyad Mosque, place of magnificent beauty, its history goes back three thousand years. This location was first used as a temple dedicated to the worship of Hadad, the Aramean deity representing sun and thunder. Later on, in the 1st century AD, a large temple was built by the Romans, dedicated to the Roman god of gods, Jupiter. In 330 AD, it became the cathedral of the city, dedicated to John the Baptist. Arab conquest in 636 did not affect it at the begining but when Muslims were increasing it was changed into a mosque (705 AD), worked on by Architects from Constantinople, Egypt, and Damascus : View of the arcades arches in the courtyard of the prayer hall wing. Damascus. Syria Picture by Manuel Cohen

Picture No

13420731

Media ID

45088583

Size

4993px x 3328px (2.5MB)

Credit

Manuel Cohen / Mary Evans

Source

Photograph by Manuel Cohen