- Type
- Palace / château
- Origins
- 712 · 8th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Style
- Islamic architecture
- Heritage
- UNESCO World Heritage List
- Coordinates
- 31.8018°, 36.5873°
History
This small building in the desert east of Amman was put up in the first half of the 8th century under the Umayyad caliphs, most probably for the future caliph al-Walid II. Despite a name meaning little castle, it was not a fortress but a desert retreat with an audience hall and a Roman-style bathhouse, used during hunts and trips into the desert. It later fell into oblivion until the Czech orientalist Alois Musil brought it to the attention of European scholars in 1898. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 for its exceptional paintings, which were cleaned and conserved in the 21st century.
What to see
From outside the stone building with its three barrel vaults and small domes looks modest, but the interior is covered in frescoes: hunting scenes, musicians, dancers, bathers, animals and craftsmen at work. The bathhouse keeps its sequence of cold, warm and hot rooms, and beside the building is the well that once fed a water tank.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q499517
Popularity: articles about this site in 46 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).