The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01
THE JEWS WHALING PLACE.
Goal Of the Jewish Pilgrims Pill
GrimaEe.
Hands, in London Mail.

Charles f. Hands, in London Mail.
You leave the beautiful, softly glowing
Kubbet-es-S akhrah, or Dome of the Rock
more famous by the name of the MOSQUE of
Omar, feeling that you have seen one OF the
perfectly beautiful sights of your life.
Round about the great rugged bowlder upon
which the altar Of sacrifice in Solomon's
Temple rested, some conquering khaIif more
than twelve hundred years ago set domed
shrine.
The holy rock itself was, as it is now, a
rugged, shapeless bowlder; but its history
went back to the day of Solomon and its
traditions went far beyond to the very be-
ginning of things, and the pious Moslem.
assimilating its holiness t the greater glory
OF Allah, made it one of the places from
which the true prophet assembled and in
closed it in a casket which is i'll itself a
jewel. A jewel because its beauty seems in
one piece 1t has a singleness of design.
which has been worked out in perfect SYM
metry, and the symmetry has been OVERLAND
with exquisite ornaments and glowing color.
Metal has been wrought in intricate shapes.
porcelain tiles upon which a fantastic pat
tern wanders white over field of lovely
turquoise blue; exquisite marbles have been
shaped and polished to cover the walls upon
which the dome rests.
And the design and the building and the
incrustation and the ornament and color
seem all to belong to one another, Just as if
it all had been designed and executed all
at once by one artist hand And the marvel
is that, just like every other great old build
ing, the Mosque of Omar is the achievement
not of any one man. but of many genera
tons of men, and even of many peoples.
In its construction has been untitled hits
of architecture belonging to all the conquer
ing races who in turn have captured. held
and built upon Jerusalem. Massive Jewish
smoothly-hewn stones, Corinthian columns.
Roman porticos, bits OF Arabian work
thing that the Moslem found which his
predecessors had left behind he turned -
MS own account, and fitted in somehow 10
his own scheme of beauty Omar decreed
the dome supported on the columns the
Romans had LEFT behind; another KbaIIf
ADDED an outer cOncentric circle of pillars.
still another generation later added the outer
oetagOn wall faced with polished marble.
Soliman the Magnificent tore down Dart 81
the marble paneling and replaced Il with
the exquisite turquoise porcelain tiles which
make the mosque glow like a jewel
The gold and arabeSque and mosaic orna-
mentation of the interior shows a thousand
patterns. The fifty-two windows which
pierce the Lonesome stained glass. some
glass mosaie-are no two Of them alike and
Vel everything seems to come into the
scheme Of unity.
You descend the broad flight OF marble
steps from the raised platform upon which
the dome stands, cross the cool stone eolIrt-
yard. leave the Haram nclosure by the COW
cred street OF the cotton merchants and
ard NTH and stinks Of modern Jerusalem
You take the steep. downhill road, and when
you come to an alley which descends more
steepiy 2on turn anto - aud cut 81 that