3 FEBRUARY 1894, Page 3

The Times of Monday gives some interesting facts as to

the destruction of the Great Mosque at Damascus on October 14th last,—an event of which little has been heard owing to the action of the Turkish authorities. They regard it as a "portentous calamity," and so have tried to keep the matter as secret as possible. The Mosque was the ancient cathedral -of St. John the Baptist, and contained one of four exemplars -of the Koran, deposited by the Caliph Othman, A.H. 30, in the four great Moslem cities of Mecca, Medina, Kufa, and Damascus. Othman's Koran was destroyed, but the rest of the valuable library belonging to the Mosque was saved. Some of the most sacred parts of the building, notably the rooms of Has- san and Houssein, were also saved, and the tomb of Saladin re- mains unharmed. The rebuilding of the Masque is now being carried out by the people of the city in a way which recalls the work on the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Even ladies of the Governor-General's harem insisted on helping in the sacred work of clearing away the debris, while the heretical Shiahs caused a riot by insisting on not being left -out. As may be imagined, the fanaticism of the population has been greatly- increased by this outburst of religious -enthusiasm, and the Christian population of the city is said to be in some danger.