Al-Aqsa Mosque                                            Dome of the Rock Mosque

Jerusalem's name is derived from Or Salem, the city of Salem. Throughout its history the city has suffered from many conquests, destruction and massacres. Since the Muslim Caliph Omar Ibn Al Kattab took Jerusalem without bloodshed in 639 AD. 300 years before that, the city was under the uninterrupted hegemony of Romans converted to Christianity in 313 AD. Under the Omayyad Caliphs (660-750) Jerusalem flourished, and the most important buildings of this period are Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.