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The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
Reputedly the site where Mohammed rose to heaven, also where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The building which encloses the Rock (es sakkra) is built with an outer ambulatory roof of octagonal shape, with a central drum supporting the golden dome. The mosque was designed by Byzantine architects and built by Caliph Abd Al-Malik in 691 A.D. It is said that gold leaf to cover the Dome cost the total revenues he derived from Egypt for seven years. It was protected from the weather by a quilt woven from cotton wool and camelhair, but unfortunately the quilt could not protect it from the attention of thieves, and by more recent times very little was left. In the 1960s the outer timber dome was replaced with a new aluminium dome, clad with a skin of 3mm thick anodized gold coloured aluminium sheets, 30mm cork insulation and inner 3mm sheet of aluminium. This was installed by a consortium of Egyptian and Italian workers, but the system failed due to the use of ineffective gaskets. During the late eighties a contract for recovering the outer dome was awarded to an Italian contractor who planned to use gilding metal laid to more conventional methods of specialist roofing skills with a true gold plated finish, but after eight months very little had been done, and the Italians were paid to leave site. The contract was due to be re-awarded but circumstances intervened with the outbreak of the Gulf War. The contract was financed by King Hussain of Jordan, reputedly a descendant of Prophet Mohammed and Guardian of more than 850 mosques and religious institutions, as well as areas of land in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The third most holy shrine in Islam after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The enquiry was received in May 1992 with a quotation submitted by early June, in competition with five other contractors, and secured by August. Numerous meetings were arranged and a start date was agreed of March 1993. A twelve week period between these dates was used to produce a mock-up of the proposed method of installation, bearing in mind that material was already on site limiting the design. In conjunction during this period in excess of 60 detailed drawings were produced for both the dome and ambulatory roofs, together with method statements and programme of works. To cover the Dome a complete fabrication workshop was shipped to site and included guillotine, box and pan folder, 600mm hand folder, notcher, Schlebach curving machine and numerous hand tools together with a press brake already on site courtesy of the previous contractor. A considerable amount of tooling was ordered to fabricate the proposed system. As a good majority of material was already on site this was checked for suitability. From cutting schedules produced in Leicester it was apparent that additional material would be needed. 400 sheets 1250 x 100 of CZ101 (gilded metal) was ordered from Italian mills through British stockists. In fixing the new sheets 24,500 stainless steel screws and in excess of 40,000 1¼ stainless steel nails were used in fixing the clips. At dawn, when the light of the sun first strikes on the cupola and the drum catches the rays, this edifice is a marvellous sight to behold and one that has never been equalled in the Islamic World, neither do we know of anything built in this period that could rival in grace The Dome of the Rock. (Taken from writings of Mukadassi circa A.D. 985 of Muslim faith born in Jerusalem). |
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