Umayyad Architecture

Umayyad architecture developed under the Umayyad Caliphate between 661 and 750, mainly in its heartland of historical Syria. It drew extensively on the building traditions of the Sasanian Empire and, especially, the Byzantine Empire, while introducing its own innovations in decoration and form. Under Umayyad patronage, Islamic architecture began to acquire traditions of its own, including the introduction of the mihrab to mosques, a turn toward aniconism in decoration, and buildings of greater scale and monumentality than earlier Islamic construction, decorated with mosaics, frescoes, sculpture and carved relief. Its most important surviving examples are concentrated in Syria and include the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of Damascus.