Gallery
Description
Property Name: Al-Musalla Al-Marwani (in Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, Al-Haram Ash-Sharif)
Inventory No: 972-2-3
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020-07-16
Country (State party): Palestine
Province: Al Quds/Jerusalem
Town: Old town
Geographic coordinates: 31°46’34.53″N
35°14’14.12″E
Historic Period: Umayyad
Year of Construction:
Style: Early Islamic
Original Use: Adjustment and stored
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Al-Musalla Al-Marwani or the Eastern Basement is a subterranean massive hall located in the southeastern corner of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Originally a very steep hill, this area was raised through various structures in order to be on the same level of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s northern courtyards, as Muslims wanted to build the Al-Qibly Mosque on strong foundations. Although the accurate year of construction remains unknown, it has been confirmed that the Al-Musalla Al-Marwani was built before the Al-Qibly Mosque.
The mosque is made of 16 naves that extend over four and a half acres of land, which makes it the largest physical structure inside Al-Aqsa’s premises with the capacity to accommodate over 6,000 worshipers at once. It can be accessed by using a stone staircase connected to two huge gates to the northeast of Al-Qibly Mosque which were built after its renovation to allow the large numbers of worshipers and visitors to enter and exit without any obstacles, and also to improve the ventilation system since the building lacks a sufficient number of windows. Before the restoration and reopening of Al-Musalla Al-Marwani by Al-Aqsa’s Committee for the Reconstruction of Holy Sites and the Islamic Heritage Committee affiliated with the Islamic Waqf, the location of the mosque was known by the name “Solomon’s Stables.” The name can be attributed to the fact that during their occupation of Jerusalem, the Crusaders had built a church on Al-Aqsa’s premises called “The Temple of Solomon” and used Al-Musalla Al-Marwani’s building as a stable for their horses. What confirms this theory is the presence of big iron rings nailed to the building’s walls similar to those used to tie up horses in the past. The Crusaders also opened a gate called “the Single Gate” in the eastern side of Al-Aqsa’s southern wall to facilitate horses’ access to the mosque. When the renovation and rehabilitation of these large halls started in 1996, it was named “Al-Musalla Al-Marwani” in honor of the Umayyads who descended from Marwan bin Al-Hakam, including Abd Al-Malik, Suleiman, Hisham, and Al-Walid who built most of the essential structures of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
After the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, ambitions and plans to dominate it began. Islamic institutions and the Waqf Department were quick to restore and open it in 1996. During the restoration, seven old closed gates were discovered, two of which were opened.
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