Image Details

A multiplicity of architectural features and styles has been incorporated into the enclosure of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, as revealed in this view looking south. The open courtyard inside the enclosure is at the lower left of the photo. The arched colonnade with alternating red and white blocks lies between the courtyard and the two domed chapels. The smaller dome, left, crowns a hexagonal chapel dedicated to Sarah; the larger dome lies atop an octagonal chapel dedicated to Abraham. Both chapels were probably built by the Mamelukes in the 13th century. Beyond the courtyard and chapels rises the medieval church, now used as a mosque, that was built over the cenotaphs of Rebecca and Isaac. Just to the left of the peaked roof of church rises one of the minarets installed by Saladin some time after 1188.