Dome Of The Rock Similarities

Throughout history, works of architecture have been one of the most crucial parts of society in every country. Architecture holds many different values to the country, that more so often, one can understand the culture, religion, history, social etc. of the country at certain era by studying these architectural monuments around the world. During the course of this semester, we learned about the Dome of the Rock and Cathedral of Notre Dame, which holds symbolic values to respectable countries. Although they were built in different countries and eras, they both hold comparative similarities and difference in their purpose, functionality of each buildings, the architectural structure (the support, structures, materials, etc.) and the aesthetic

features of these individual buildings. By comparing these two architectures from different regions and times, we can envision the very similar yet different aspects of these structures.
Although built in different regions and era, they share similarities also with difference in their purpose/functionality of each respectable architectures.

The most obvious similarity between these two buildings is that they serve as important religious site to their respective religion. The Dome of The Rock is an important building in Islam and Judaism. It is believed that this site is where Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven and met up with Moses, Christ, apparently saw God as well (Macaulay-Lewis, n.d., para. 5). Also, this site is referred to a location where Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, who died on the very rock located inside the Dome of The Rock. The Dome of The Rock served as testament to the power of the new faith of Islam and place where religion became a supreme faith (“Dome of the Rock,” n.d., para. 7). Also, it is believed that this place was used as a burial of a Roman emperor such as Augustus or Hadrian (“The Dome of the Rock,” n.d., para. 10). As one can see, this site is built to understand the rich history of their respected religion and the origin, but the Cathedral of Notre Dame served a different purpose. The Cathedral of Notre Dame represents Christianity and the building served multiple purposes. It functioned as hospital,

school (later became a university), and palace for a bishop as well, it also focused on liberal arts, such as music and grammar. This site also serves as the seat of a French King (“Chartres Cathedral,” n.d.). As one can see, Christianity did not originate in Cathedral of Notre Dame, so it does not carry rich religious history like Dome of The Rock. However, they serve as a preservation site of holistic artifacts. Cathedral of Notre Dame preserves Tunic of Virgin Mary (despite building caught on fire, it survived) (“Chartres Cathedral,” n.d.), and Dome of The Rock holds the iconic rock where Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven and Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac (“Dome of the Rock,” 2017, para. 5). From the study, we can observe that both building serve as iconic religious site and preserve important artifacts. However, they hold their differences in their respected religious studies and the main functionality of the structures.