Templum Domini

The Templum Domini[2][3] (Vulgate translation of Hebrew: הֵיכָל יְהֹוָה "Temple of the Lord") was the name attributed by the Crusaders to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock was erected in the late 7th century under the 5th Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan at the site of the former Jewish Second Temple (or possibly added to an existing Byzantine building dating to the reign of Heraclius, 610–641).

[7] In 1138 the Templum Domini was raised to the status of an abbey and on 1 April 1141, the church was dedicated solemnly by papal legate Alberic of Ostia, possibly to St.

The image of the Dome, as representing the "Temple of Solomon", became an important iconographic element in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

[citation needed] After the completion of the purpose-built royal palace near the Jaffa Gate and to the south of the Tower of David,[9] the king gave the building to the Catholic monastic-military order, the Knights Templar, who maintained it as their headquarters.

Knights Templar Seal of the Crusader period, showing the Dome of the Rock on the reverse. [ 1 ]
The Temple of Solomon was anachronistically depicted as the Dome of the Rock in Western iconography well into the early modern period (here in a print by Salvatore & Giandomenico Marescandoli of Lucca , 1600)