An extensive decoration of mosaics, painted wood, marble, multi-colored tiles, carpets, and carved stone covers most of the building, inside and outside. This decoration comes from many different periods and has often been repaired with varying success, as the ravages of time and changes in taste affected the maintenance of the building.
The Dome of the Rock will here be shown to belong to a general architectural type that includes a number of mythologized pre-Dome structures located not only on the Temple Mount but also in South Arabia. The early sources frequently refer to these structures as "mihrabs." These mihrabs must be integrated into the pre-history of the Dome of the Rock; they and their surrounding events are as important to understanding