Al-Aqsa Mosque

The al-Aqsa Mosque is a major mosque in the rich district of Jerusalem, located on the Temple Mount. It was constructed in 751 and replaced an older wooden mosque.

During the time Jerusalem was in Crusader hands, the mosque was used as a royal palace and commonly known as Solomon's Temple, despite not being the real one. In 1191, it was transformed into a headquarter for a newly established Crusader order founded by its Grandmaster Hugh de Payns, whose name derived from that location: Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or shortly known as Knights Templar.