The Travels of Ibn Jubayr
| Name of text: | The Travels of Ibn Jubayr |
| Author of text: | Ibn Jubayr |
| Date of text: | July-August, 1184 |
| Date of person in text: | 1145-1217 |
| Name of structure in text: | Umayyad Mosque/Great Mosque of Damascus |
| Type of structure in text: | Mosque |
| Date of structure in text | 8th century |
| Century of structure 1: | 8 AD |
| Century of structure 2: | |
| Country in text: | Syria |
| Region in text: | |
| City in text: | Damascus |
| Specific place of mosaic in text: | Walls, piers, domes |
| Description of mosaic in text: | All its walls were inlaid with gold mosaic called fusayfisa; and mingled with it were all kinds of remarkable colours in the pattern of plants throwing out branches and arranged amongst the gold stones with the most wonderful of exquisite work, that it is impossible to describe, and that dazzles the eyes with its brightness and luster. The amount spent on it, according to Ibn al-Mu’alli ‘l-Asadi in a chapter that he wrote in description of its building, was found hundred coffers, each coffer containing twenty-eight thousand dinars, giving a total of eleven million and two hundred thusand dinars [...] The aisles are raised on sixty-eight support […] four are piers that are covered with marble in a most beautiful fashion, being studded with coloured marble mosaics arranged in rings, and illustrated with mihrabs and rare designs. These latter stand in the central aisle and uphold the Lead Dome together with the dome that is beside the mihrab. |
| Mosaic date in text: | 8 AD |
| Tesserae silver mentioned in text? | No |
| Tesserae gold mentioned in text? | Yes |
| Colour descriptions in text: | |
| Bibliography: | The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, ed. and trans. by Roland Broadhurst (London: Goodword Books, 1952, repr. 2011), p. 272 (walls), p. 274 (piers), p. 277 (dome), p. 279 (building inside and out) |
| URLs: | |
| Comments: | Ibn Jubayr calls this mosque 'The Cathedral Mosque' |