Ramla
Ramla is located in the coastal plain, some 15 km. east
of Tel Aviv. The city was built at the crossroads of two major routes: the via
maris, along the coast, and the road that connected the port of Jaffa
with Jerusalem. The origin of the name Ramla is in the Arabic word raml,
meaning "sand", and apparently refers to the sand dunes on which
the city was built.
According to historical sources, Ramla was founded at
the beginning of the 8th century by the Umayyad Calif Suleiman ibn Abd el-Malik.
It served as the Umayyad and Abbasid capital of the Province of Palestine (Jund
Filistin), and the seat of Arab governors of the province in the 8th
and 9th centuries. In the 14th century, Ramla regained importance for a
short time as the provincial capital of the Mamluks.
The remains of Arab Ramla lie buried under the
present-day city, making archeological research difficult. Results of
excavations carried out in 1949 and limited salvage excavations conducted
since, indicate that the city has been continuously inhabited since its
foundation.
The best known historical building in Ramla is the
"White Mosque" and the minaret next to it. The remains of the
original structure, erected at the beginning of the 8th century during
Umayyad rule, were incorporated in the restoration work by Salah al-Din
(Saladin) at the end of the 12th century. The minaret was built during the Mamluk period, in the 14th century.
The White Mosque (93 x 84 m.) is oriented to the
cardinal points. It is surrounded by walls, with a main gate in the east
and a secondary entrance in the north. At the center of the structure is a
large, open courtyard; along its southern wall, a 12 m. wide mosque was
built, its ceiling consisting of cross-vaulting supported at the center by
a row of piers. In its wall facing the courtyard is a row of 12 openings
between pilasters supporting the ceiling of the mosque on this side. The
ceiling of the mosque and its western portion are additions made during the
restoration work by Salah al-Din, as is the mihrab (prayer niche) in the
southern wall facing Mecca.
Under the courtyard the Umayyads constructed enormous,
even-sized cisterns for storage of water which remain intact to this day.
Broad pilasters support the barrel-domed ceilings of the cisterns. They
were filled with rainwater collected from the area around the mosque and
with water carried by an aqueduct from the springs in the hills east of
Ramla. These reservoirs provided water for the worshipers at the mosque and
filled the pool for ablutions at the center of the courtyard, of which only
the foundation remains today. An Arabic inscription in Kufic script, which
was found in the excavations, relates to the restoration of the plaster in
the year 1408.
The square minaret, several stories high, built by the Mamluks in the 14th century, stands to
this day. Inside, it has a central staircase which takes one to the roof.
In the outer walls of the minaret are long, narrow windows in recessed
arches. An Arabic inscription on the lintel above the entrance to the
minaret states that it was constructed during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Muhammad ibn Qala’un in
1318.
Some 500 m. northeast of the White Mosque is an intact
subterranean vaulted water reservoir; it was constructed by the Abbasid
Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the year 768 to safeguard the water supply of the
city.
A large and varied assemblage of pottery from the
Umayyad period was found in the excavations. It indicates that Ramla was
also a center of pottery production during this period.
In excavations outside the White Mosque and at a number
of sites in the city, several buildings from the Umayyad, Abbasid and Mamluk periods were found, verifying that
Ramla was indeed founded on sand dunes during the Umayyad period. From that
period, fragmentary remains of several large structures, probably of public
and administrative nature, were found.
Of particular interest is a portion of an Umayyad-
period mosaic floor with geometric patterns. The frames dividing the floor
are each decorated with a different motif, among them grape clusters,
pomegranates, an eight-pointed star and the figure of a cat and birds. The
southern part of the mosaic depicts a prayer niche (mihrab), consisting of
two pillars supporting an arch which frames an Arabic inscription in Kufic
script, including a quotation from the Koran:
Be thou not among the negligent – intended as an encouragement to pray.
This mosaic prayer niche is the oldest known in Islamic art.
Sources: Israeli
Foreign Ministry |