The Somnath temple is the first Jyotirlinga among the 12 Jyotirlingas. It has been mentioned in Skanda Purana, Shiva Purana, Mahabharata and Rigveda. It’s believed that it was constructed by the Moon god in Satyuga by gold. In Tretayug, it was made by Ravana of silver. In Dwaparyug, it was made by Shri Krishna of wood. Somnath was first demolished by the Ghaznavid Sultan, Mehmood of Ghazni in 1026 AD.
The image was destroyed by the Prince Mahmud, may God be merciful to him! --AH 416. He ordered the upper part to be broken and the remainder to be transported to his residence, Ghaznin, with all its coverings and trappings of gold, jewels, and embroidered garments. Part of it has been thrown into the hippodrome of the town, together with Cakrasvamin, an idol of bronze, that had been brought from Taneshar. Another part of the idol from Somnath lies before the door of the mosque of Ghaznin, on which people rub their feet to clean them from dirt and wet."
- Kitabu’l-Yamini by Abu Nasr Muhammad.
The Somnath temple was again demolished by Alauddin Khilji in year 1299.
So the temple of Somnath was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath. The idols, who had fixed their abode midway to the House of Abraham (Mecca), and there waylaid stragglers, were broken to pieces in pursuance of Abraham’s tradition. But one idol, the greatest of them all, was sent by the maliks to the Imperial Court, so that the breaking of their helpless god may be demonstrated to the idol-worshipping Hindus. It seemed as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it. Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the Medina of Islam.
- Khaza Inul Futuh, Chapter IV, page 35–36.
The temple was again demolished by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1665.
About this time the (new?) temple of Somnath on the south coast of the Kathiawar peninsula was demolished, and the offering of worship there ordered to be stopped. The smaller religious buildings that suffered havoc were beyond count.
- Akham-I-Alamgiri, page 12.
But nonetheless, the temple was rebuilt again and again and the present temple was built by Sardar Vallabhai Patel and the Pran Pratishta was done in 1951 under Dr. Rajendra Prasad.