Covering about one sixth of the old city of Jerusalem, the Haram el-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) is a concentration of some of the most magnificent architecture in the Holy Land. The Haram el-Sharif with its trapezoidal shape, has fifteen gates for entrance including the Maghreb Gate (Dung Gate), located by the Wailing Wall.

The most famous building in the Haram el-Sharif is the Dome of the Rock ("Qubbat el-Sakhra" in Arabic). This jewel of the Holy Land, casts the glory of its golden dome all over Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock is an octagonal structure, superimposed on two squares offset by an angle of 45 degrees. Its layout, subject to complex geometry has made it a model for later Islamic architecture.

The dome is formed by two superposed cupolas, between which a space was worked in to protect the decoration from the climate. An epigraphic strip 262 yards long, to the glory of Jesus, a prophet according to Islam, runs around the drum.

The rock in the middle of the dome, where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, symbolizes the center of the world in Muslim geography. The Faithful can make out the footprint of the Prophet, as well as the handprint of Gabriel. The cave under the rock is called the "Well of Souls', where tradition maintains the souls of the dead linger before disappearing. The external decoration of mosaics has been restored many times. Suleyman replaced the Omayyad and Ayyubid pottery with Persian ones. These gave way in 1964 to Armenian glazed tiles, surmounted by a frieze with verses from the Koran.

The El-Aqsa Mosque was built between 705 and 715 at the southern part of Haram el-Sharif. The largest mosque in Jerusalem was destroyed several times by earthquakes and now has only a few elements of its original Omayyad structure. The main part of the building is the work of the Fatimid caliph of Egypt, El Zahir who restored the mosque in 1035. The Crusaders and the Ayyubids performed additional modifications to the mosque, making it a mixture of architectural styles.

The mosque was called El-Aqsa ("the furthest away" in Arabic) after the miraculous Night Journey of the Prophet Mohammad to Jerusalem as told in the Sura XVII: "Glory be to him who made His servant go by night from the sacred Temple to the farther Temple whose surroundings We have blessed."

The need to couterballance the prestige of the Byzantine masterpieces, particularly the Holy Sepulcher, was all-important in the building of this monumental mosque. The seven arches of the portico echo the seven parts of the layout of the Holy Sepulcher.