4to. 328 pp., Arabic text, profusely illustrated b/w photographs, figures, plans, publisher’s original wrappers, bibliography, Kutub Publishing, Beirut, 2015.

Synopsis

The Umayyad Mosque is the greatest treasure of Damascus. The author, Professor Talal Akili spent many years and extraordinary efforts to document the Mosque and review its architectural and urban development throughout its various historical stages. The Mosque used to be the Temple of the Aramaic deity Hadad in the ancient past, and of Damascus Jupiter in Roman times, before becoming the Church of St. John the Baptist, and lastly the Grand Umayyad Mosque of today. In each of those stages, it remained the unique wonder of its time, and the exemplary prototype imitated in temple construction elsewhere.