c.691 C.E. - The Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem

"Rivaling the great churches of Christendom, the mosque in Jerusalem borrowed from late Roman and Byzantine forms even while asserting its Islamic identity. The columns and capitals atop them, the round arches, the dome, and the mosaic are all from Byzantine models. In fact, the columns were taken from older buildings at Jerusalem. But the strips of Arabic writing on the dome itself - and in many other parts of the building - assert Islamic doctrine" (The Making of the West 255). The intricacies of The Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem show how important this building was in Islamic culture, even though much of the architecture is borrowed from other cultures, it is adjusted into its own Islamic identity.

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