Great Mosque of Damascus - Damascus, Syria
$49.00
مرحبا بكم في سوريا
Welcome to Syria
The Umayyad Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الأموي, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: الجامع الدمشق, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-Damishq), located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from historic events associated with it. Christian and Muslim tradition alike consider it the burial place of John the Baptist's head, and Muslim tradition holds that this will be the place where Jesus will return before the End of Days.
The site has been used as a house of worship since the Iron Age, with an Aramean temple dedicated to the god of rain, Hadad. Under Roman rule, beginning in 64 CE, it was converted into the center of the imperial cult of Jupiter, the Roman god of rain, becoming one of the largest temples in Syria. When the empire transitioned to Christian Byzantine rule, Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395) transformed it into a cathedral.
After the Muslim conquest of Damascus in 634, the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715) eventually demolished the Byzantine cathedral and built a grand mosque complex instead. The new structure was built by laborers and artisans from across the Islamic and Byzantine empires at considerable expense and was funded by conquests and taxes. Unlike the simpler mosques of the time, the Umayyad Mosque had a large basilical plan with three parallel aisles and a perpendicular central nave leading from the mosque's entrance to the world's second concave mihrab (prayer niche). The mosque was noted for its rich compositions of marble paneling and its extensive gold mosaics of vegetal motifs, covering some 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft), likely the largest in the world.
The Umayyad Mosque innovated and influenced nascent Islamic architecture; other major mosque complexes, including the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain and the al-Azhar Mosque of Egypt, are based on its model. Although the original structure has been altered several times due to fire, war damage, and repairs, it is one of the few mosques to maintain the same form and architectural features of its 8th-century construction (from Wikipedia).
This model was originally designed by architect Faiz Kamel @churnwalker21, who kindly donated his time to quickly put together this model for the relief effort after the earthquakes in Turkey & Syria in April 2023. Makerwiz is the Authorized Maker of 3D prints designed by MiniWorld3D.
