Gallery
Description
Property Name: The Ancient Aqsa, Al-Musalla Al-Qadim
Inventory No: 972-2-3
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2020-07-14
Country (State party): Palestine
Province: Al Quds/Jerusalem
Town: Old town
Geographic coordinates: 31°46’34.60″N
35°14’8.26″E
Historic Period: Umayyad
Year of Construction:
Style: Early Islamic
Original Use: Mosque
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Al-Musalla Al-Qadim is one of the most significant buildings constructed in the Early Muslim Period as well as being the earliest in Palestine. The Ancient Aqsa is located underneath the central nave of Al- Qibly Mosque; it is a linear building that extends from north to south. It can be accessed by using an old staircase sitting in front of Al-Qibly Mosque’s exterior corridor which is made of 18 steps. The Ancient Aqsa building ends with another door that is called “The Door of the Prophet” in Arabic literature and “The Double Gate” in English writings. The Mosque is a barrel shaped vault, comprised of three cylindrical arches, that has an inclination towards the south due to the geographical nature of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s location; the interior building consists of two naves that are surrounded by huge stone pillars. It originally served as passage for the Umayyad caliphs connecting their palaces to Al-Aqsa, as the palaces were built next to its southern wall.
Selection Criteria
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
iv. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history
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
When the Umayyads restored this building they reused older construction material which could have pertained to the Roman or the Herodian era. However, the Ancient Mosque’s building that was restored and reopened by Al-Aqsa’s Committee for the Reconstruction of Holy Sites in 1998 is an Umayyad building. Today, the building hosts Al-Aqsa Mosque’s library, called “Al-Khutniyah Library.”. Among the distinctive architectural elements in the old Al-Aqsa Mosque are two flat Umayyad domes that rise above its southern entrance, and there are huge stone pillars that form the foundation upon which the area of the Dome of the Tribal Mosque is based, and these columns are supported by concrete bridges added during the restoration of the Supreme Islamic Council of this place in 1927.
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