Page:Buried cities and Bible countries (1891).djvu/227

 Rock, on this platform, covers the sacred rock, which rises 5 feet above the floor of the building, the crest being at the level 2440 feet above the Mediterranean. The Dome of the Chain is immediately to the east of the Kubbet es-Sakhrah.

The Jami'a el-Aksa, or "distant mosque" (that is, distant from Mecca), is on the south, reaching to the outer wall. The whole enclosure of the Haram is called by Moslem writers Masjid el Aksa, "praying-place of the Aksa."

Entering by the gate of the Cotton Bazaar we stand within the temple courts. Before us are the steps which lead up to the platform where shoes must be removed; for while the outer court, like the old court of the Gentiles, is a promenade, the paved marble platform is a sacred enclosure, not to be trodden except barefoot.

Over the outer arcade of the Dome of the Rock runs the great Cufic inscription, giving the date of the erection of the building in 688 "The Dome of the Rock" (says Conder) "belongs to that obscure period of Saracenic art when the Arabs had not as yet created an architectural style of their own, and when they were in the habit of employing Byzantine architects to build their mosques."

From the bright sunlight we pass suddenly into the deep gloom of the interior, lit with the "dim religious light" of the glorious purple windows. The gorgeous colouring, the painted wood-work, the fine marble, the costly mosaics, the great dome, flourished all over with arabesques and inscriptions, and gilded to the very top—all this splendour gleams out here and there from the darkness.

And in honour of what is this beautiful chapel built? A low canopy of rich silk covers the dusty limestone ledge round which the "Dome of the Rock" has risen. According to Arab tradition this Rock of Paradise is the source of the rivers of Paradise and the Foundation-stone of the world. From this rock Mohammed ascended to heaven