which these tiles were manufactured were discovered in the Haram precincts after the British Occupation, and that potters from Kutahia have been brought to Jerusalem under the auspices of the Pro-Jerusalem Society to make tiles in the old manner to replace such original tiles as have been destroyed by weathering in the course of centuries.
The interior of the building is a marvel of colouring and decoration. The roof of the octagon is richly decorated in green, blue and gold; the drum is adorned with sumptuous mosaics by Byzantine artists of the tenth and eleventh centuries; the stucco incrustation of the inner dome produces a most rich effect with its red and golden tones. Not the least beautiful feature of the interior lies in the coloured glass of the windows. The rock itself is surrounded by a screen of wrought iron, placed there by the Crusaders when they converted the building to Christian use. The inscription on the inside of the drum records its construction in 72 A.H. (691 A.D.) by ʾAbd al-Melek, whose name was excised from the inscription and replaced by that of al-Mamun one hundred and twenty years later.
Many traditions, Moslem and Talmudic, attach to the rock, which is believed to hover over the waters of the flood and to be the centre of the world, the gate of hell, the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac, and much else of a fantastic nature. According to Moslem belief it was from the rock that Mohammed was translated to heaven on the back of al-Buraq, his magic steed of the human face.
To the south of the Dome of the Rock stands its tiny prototype, the Dome of the Chain, built by ʾAbd al-Melek as a treasure-house to contain the money which he had set apart for the reconstruction of the Haram area. At the southern end of the Haram rises the celebrated Mosque al-Aqsa, the "more distant" shrine, to which God conveyed the Prophet in a single night (Sura xvii., 1). The Aqsa mosque in its present form occupies the site of Justinian's Church of the Panagia, and, despite almost complete reconstruction by the Khalifs and their successors, retains, in outline at all events, much of its original character of a
