Kent Kimliğinin Oluşumunda Kutsal Merkezin Yeri: İslam Dönemi Kudüs'ünde Harem-i Şerif Örneği

Abstract

In Jerusalem, the common holy city of the three monotheistic religions, the area which survived for 3000 years as the sacred centre, and known as “Haram al-Sharif” during the Islamic period, is the focus of the town’s rich religious-symbolic background, and of the “holy geometry” reflected on it. If we study the place of the Haram al-Sharif in the formation of the urban identity, we notice that this sacred area, by occupying almost the 1/5 of the old town surface, is dominant in two dimensions (on the plan). On the other hand, the Dome of the Rock, located at the centre of Haram al-Sharif and being the most splendid Islamic building in town, constitutes a strong visual focus that dominates the holy city in the 3rd dimension (silhouette) as well, by rising on one of the highest hills of the surrounding, and with its central mass crowned by an onion-shaped dome resting on a high drum. This monument, built in the 7th century by the Umayyades at the site of the Temple of Solomon, was identified for centuries with its mythical predecessor and so became the “symbol” of Jerusalem in the 4th dimension (time) and in the collective memory. With time, this symbol was metamorphosed into an emblem and nowadays into an artefact of tourism. However, we can assert that this transformation, instead of denying, supports the fact that the Dome of the Rock “symbolises” Jerusalem.