Qubbat al-Khazna

33.511699°N 36.30608°E / 33.511699; 36.30608

Qubbat al-Khazna (Arabic: قبة الخزنة, romanized: Qubbat al-Khaznah, lit. 'Dome of the Treasury'), also known as the Bayt al-Mal or Beit al-Mal,[1][2] is an old structure within the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria. It is an octagonal structure decorated with mosaics, standing on eight Roman columns.[3] The dome was built under orders from the Abbasid governor of Damascus, Fadl ibn Salih, in 789.[4][5]

The exterior walls of the structure were originally covered in colorful mosaic decoration which imitated the earlier Umayyad-era mosaics in the rest of the mosque, although they are of slightly lesser quality than the latter.[6][1] The mosaics were restored in 13th or 14th century and then in the late 20th century they were almost entirely redone based on existing fragments.[1][2] The Roman columns that were re-used for the structure's pillars were truncated to achieve the desired height but preserve original Roman-era capitals.[1]

The dome used to hold the mosque's large endowments.[7] Some Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Georgian old manuscripts were also housed in Qubbat al-Khazna in the past (e.g. Uncial 0126, 0144, 0145).[8][9] The manuscripts were generally kept out of view, but were allowed to be handled briefly by German scholars when German Emperor Wilhelm II visited Damascus in 1898.[7]