Like a mirage, the ruins of a palace adorned with one of the largest mosaic panels in the world emerge in the middle of the desert. Known as Hisham’s Palace, the site at Khirbat al-Mafjar, about 5km north of the West Bank city of Jericho, is one of more than 20 remaining so-called ‘desert castles’ in the Middle East, and an important example of early Islamic art and architecture. On the floors of the vast audience hall and bathing facility, mosaics shimmer in the brightest colours, seemingly intact after almost 1,500 years.
First discovered in 1894, the building complex had been attributed to Caliph Hisham bin Abed al-Malik (r. AD 724-743), based on epigraphic materials, but today it is believed that his heir and nephew al-Walid II (r. AD 743-744) constructed the palace, about a century after the prophet Muhammad’s death. Hisham and al-Walid were members of the Umayyad dynasty, which was founded in 661 and ruled a major caliphate until it was overthrown by the Abbasids in 750. Khirbat al-Mafjar served as a winter residence for the caliph, and was just one of several palaces (qusur) throughout Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, where they also constituted trading posts and security outposts of the great Umayyad empire.
The building complex, constructed of sandstone and brick, is composed of a palace, a thermal bath and reception hall, a mosque, and a monumental fountain, all enclosed by a surrounding wall. A two-storey square building with round towers at the corners constituted the palace proper. People entered through a vaulted passage, lined with benches on both sides. It was planned around a central courtyard that was enclosed by four arcaded galleries. Outside, archaeologists found a large Umayyad grape press, which suggests that the palace also served as an agricultural estate. Altogether, the site forms a spectacular example of early Arab architecture, with its rich mosaics (including the largest and most accomplished mosaic floor of early Islamic design), stucco decoration, and high-quality sculpture. Yet except for the bathhouse, the complex was never completed. A severe earthquake destroyed the impressive audience hall and baths around AD 749. In the Abbasid period (AD 750-950), though, the site was reoccupied with the construction of an elite house in the northern area.
War Classics – Old Soldiers Never Die