The Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 638 CE marks one of the most fundamental transformations in the history of the holy city, from a Christian religious center to al-Quds, an Islamic holy city. The most prominent early Islamic landmarks in Jerusalem are the monumental buildings in the Temple Mount area and the creation of the Haram el-Sharif. The Dome of the Rock, the el-Aqsa mosque and the monumental palaces or administrative centers constructed outside the Haram represent the most elaborate early Islamic monuments in the city.

However, recent archaeological data show that the Islamic holy city preserved many of the Christian institutions that had once been the destination for thousands of pilgrims. Excavations of several monastic complexes around Jerusalem—such as the monasteries excavated north of Damascus Gate, on the eastern slopes of Mt. Scopus, and the Palaiòn Káthisma church on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem road—show clear evidence of structural and functional continuity in the early Islamic period. The same picture of continuous Christian presence holds true for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where recent excavations revealed considerable construction and renovation in the areas around the church in the early Islamic period.

The city walls remained unchanged at least until the tenth century. Domestic architecture was only gradually altered following the Byzantine period, as we are informed by the recent excavations near Herod’s Gate and by the reevaluation of earlier excavations in other parts of the city.

The cumulative archaeological evidence shows that Jerusalem preserved its Christian character in the early Islamic period, and this has been corroborated by the Jerusalemite historian al-Muqaddasi who, in the second half of the tenth century, complained that the majority of the population in Jerusalem was still Christian.