It was built bySaladin (born Yusuf) in the 12th century, and has been renovated several times.[1][2][3] It bears inscriptions from the 12th and 17th centuries: one dated 1191 in Saladin's name, and two mentioning Yusuf Agha, possibly a governor of Jerusalem or aeunuch in theOttoman imperial palace.[1][4][5]
A rectangular semi-enclosed structure resembling anaedicule,[6] the Dome of Yusuf sits upon a solid stone wall and is supported by three pointed open arches. On the northern face of the southern wall, there are stone carvings and a marble-facedblind niche. The exterior of the dome is covered in lead sheeting, and the interior is decorated with a ribbed pattern.[4][5]
The structure has three inscriptions:
The prominent inscription on the lower panel, a greennaskh Arabic text, is from 1191 (during theAyyubid dynasty). It calls Saladin by hiskunyaAbū’l-Muẓaffar ("father of the Triumphant") and hispersonal nameYūsuf.[N 1] It also mentions anemir, al-Asfahasalar Sayf ad-Din Ali bin Ahmad (al-Asfahsalar Ali bin Ahmad al-Hikkari), for having supervised the construction of a defensive trench.[7]
Two small, unpainted inscriptions are on the façade'sspandrels (above the arch). They are in two different languages, together forming abilingual epigraphic text. Both panels end with "1092" inEastern Arabic numerals (١٠٩٢), which is theHijri year that overlaps partly with 1682 CE.[8]
The right one is in Ottoman Turkish, stating that Superintendent Ali Agha built this.[N 2]
The left is in Arabic, with mostly the same information. It indicates that Ali did it on behalf of Yusuf Agha. Both panels clarify that the reward for this effort should go to Yusuf.[N 3]
The white central panel inside the niche is blank.
"The superintendent Ali Agha has built this – that the reward should all fall on Yusuf Agha. On seeing it, the Oracle Hatif pronounced its date:Muharram of the year 1092 (AH)."
"This [dome] has been built out of piety on behalf of Yusuf, / the agha of the Abode of Supreme Felicity [Istanbul], through his perfect piety. / We are presented with it in the phrasing (chronogram) regarding its construction. / Ali has built it [the dome], but the reward for it returns to Yusuf. /Muharram of the year 1092 (AH)."
Inscribed Arabic text:
بناه على التقوى على ليوسفاغا دار اوج السعد من بره وفيلنا جاء في التأريخ عند بنائهبناه على والثواب ليوسفمحرم سنة ١٠٩٢
^abCarole Hillenbrand (2000).The Crusades: Islamic perspectives (Illustrated, reprint, annotated ed.). Routledge. p. 191.ISBN978-0-415-92914-1.a monumental inscription dated 587(AH)/1191 in [Saladin's] name on the Dome of Joseph [Qubbat Yusuf] on the Haram esplanade: 'the victorious king, the probity of this world and of [true] religion, the Sultan of Islam and of the Muslims, the servant of the two noble sanctuaries and of Jerusalem.'
^Hillenbrand, Robert (2000). Auld, Sylvia (ed.).Ottoman Jerusalem. London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. p. 16.ISBN978-1-901435-03-0.[…] two structures erected by Yusuf Agha in 1681 – the Qubbat Yusuf (an open-plan aedicule) and the Qubbat Yusuf Agha (a closed domed square) – clearly suggest that, despite the identical terminology, different forms connoted different functions in Jerusalem at that time.
^abcTutuncu, Mehmet (2006).Turkish Jerusalem (1516-1917): Ottoman Inscriptions from Jerusalem. SOTA.The name Qubbat Yusuf refers not only to the builder Yusuf Agha but it also refers to Salahaddin. He is referred to in the inscription asAbulmuzaffer Yusuf.A version ishere, p. 10-12, but it misspells "piety" (should beالتقوى) asالتققى.
Media related toDome of Yusuf at Wikimedia Commons
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