The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem

Over the rock at the summit of the Temple Mount, empty since the destruction of the Second Temple, the caliph Abd al-Malik builds an octagonal structure with a golden dome—one of the first great buildings of Islam. Inside runs a ring of mosaic inscription, the earliest dated text with quotations from the Quran. The site was not chosen at random: for Muslims it is tied to Muhammad's night journey, for Jews to the binding of Yitzchak and the Holy of Holies of the Temple. The al-Aqsa mosque will rise nearby later; the skyline of Jerusalem with this dome has hardly changed since.