View source for Church of St. Mary of Justinian (Temple Mount, Jerusalem)

The '''Church of St. Mary''' was a Byzantine [[church]] that was built in Jerusalem during the reign of [[Justinian]] and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church was located on the Temple Mount.

==History==
Byzantine historian Procopius wrote that the church was built in 560 AD and burned down by the Persians in 614. Later after the Muslim conquest of the [[Holy Land]], this church eventually was converted into what is the present day Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

The Al-Aqsa Mosque was built 20 years after the Dome of the Rock, which was built in 691-692 by Khalif Abd El Malik (the name "Omar Mosque" is therefore false). Therefore, in or around 711, or about 80 years after Mohammed died, Malik's son, Abd El-Wahd (who ruled from 705-715) reconstructed the Christian- Byzantine Church of St. Mary and converted it into a mosque. He left the structure as it was, a typical Byzantine "[[basilica]]" structure with a row of pillars on either side of the rectangular "ship" in the center. All he added was an onion-like dome on top of the building to make it look like a mosque. He then named it El-Aqsa, so it would sound like the one mentioned in the Koran.[http://www.islamreview.com/articles/islamiclies.shtml]

==See also==
*[[Wikipedia:Al-Aqsa Mosque]]

[[Category:Churches|Mary of Justinian]]
[[Category:Churches in Palestine|Mary of Justinian]]