The dome of the Rock – dazzling sparkling in the sunshine sanctuary, as if hovering over Jerusalem. It stands on the Temple mount near al-Aqsa mosque. This place is a bone of contention between Jews and Muslims. It is called the most contested in the world of real estate.

Almost three thousand years ago king Solomon erected the First Temple here, in the Holy of holies which was the Ark with the stone tablets received by Moses from the Lord. In 586 BC the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, and carried off the Jews into slavery and destroyed the sanctuary. In 368 BC the people returned from Babylonian captivity, began the erection of the Second Temple. Its construction was completed in 20 year king Herod the Great, known by the biblical massacre of the innocents. Half a century later the Romans took Jerusalem, destroyed the Second Temple. Among the ruins remained a powerful artificial platform on which in the seventh century, Muslims began to build their places of worship.

At the behest of the fifth Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, Abd al-Malik Ibn Marwan, 687-691, there was erected the dome of the Rock. It is built over the Foundation Stone, indicating the place where the Holy of holies of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. In the Jewish tradition, the stone (or rock length about eighteen and a width of more than thirteen feet) is considered the cornerstone of the universe. In Islam, however he has a completely different meaning: think of this stone made his ascension to heaven (mi'raj) of the prophet Muhammad.

This event refers to the year 621. According to the hadith (tradition), once the prophet was the angel Gabriel. Together with Mohammed they are riding on a reasonable winged animal al-Burak made a night journey to Jerusalem (1240 miles one way). Hence Muhammad ascended to the throne of Allah. Received from Allah, the same night he returned to Mecca. The journey itself, according to hadith, lasted only a moment – accidentally overturned by the angel jibra'il pitcher did not have time to shed.

The dome of the Rock – an amazing structure, erected by the Islamic engineers. In the design they used measurements of the Christian Church of the Holy sepulchre, almost exactly repeating his dome with a diameter of more than twenty meters. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent facades of the buildings were covered in beautiful tiles. The dome in 1965, re-plated aluminum alloy bronze color, but in 1993 it was replaced by gold. King Hussein of Jordan sold one of his houses in London to buy need 80 pounds of precious metal.

The interior of the Dome is richly decorated with mosaics, which are inscribed verses of the Koran. Sacred stone is surrounded by gold-plated bars to touch him strictly prohibited.

During the six-day war of 1967 here with a battle broke Israeli troops. Above the Dome raised the flag of Israel, Rav mountain entered the building with a scroll of the Torah and shofar (ritual horn, which sounded in special cases). However, the area of the Temple mount was soon transferred to the Islamic Waqf (a special form of property), Muslims control it.