Jordan Nature Is Very Different

Qasr Amra

Of all the Ummayed castles in Jordan, Amra is the most loved. It was built as a bath house and its existence adds to the theory that these ‘Desert Castles’ were built mainly for leisure and not as forts. The auditorium chamber, used for feasting, meetings and cultural events, leads through an antechamber to the baths.
The walls of the antechamber are decorated with athletic, hunting and wildlife scenes. Qasr Amra had an elaborate bathing complex and a sophisticated heating system. The caldarium’s domed ceiling depicts the constellations of the northern hemisphere and signs of the Zodiac.

Qasr Kharana

The mighty fortress at Kharana is one of Jordan’s strangest deviations - built in the form of a castle, experts maintain that it was a palace in disguise. The lavish plastering of the upper halls and rooms, the splendid vaulted ceilings and attention to decorative details raise the question that Kharana was a fort.
As Qasr Kharana does not have a substantial water source or a major route passing by, scholars suggest that it could have been an extravagant meeting place for Ummayed leaders.

Qasr Mushatta

Qasr Mushatta is extraordinary because of its grandeur and construction. It is worth visiting Mushatta at sunset as the last rays illuminate the exquisite brickwork.
Another page of Mushatta’s history was added in 1904, when the magnificent patterns were removed and presented by the Turkish Sultan to German Kaiser Wilhelm. The remains were taken to Berlin and were destroyed in World War ll.

Qasr Al-Hallabat

Qasr Al-Hallabat lies 25 km northeast of Zarqa and 55 km northwest of Azraq Fort. The site comprises a conglomerate of separate and widely spaced units.

These include a palace (qasr), a mosque, a huge reservoir, 8 cisterns dug into the western slope, an irregularly shaped agricultural enclosure with an elaborate system of sluices, and a cluster of poorly built houses which extend to the northwest of the reservoir. The bath complex of Hammam Assarah, is situated 2 km to the east of the qasr.

Originally Roman, this castle was rebuilt during the Umayyad period when it was elaborately decorated in mosaics, carved stucco, and fresco paintings, thus transforming the castle into a palatial residence. There are about 150 inscriptions within the castle, mostly in Greek. The vast majority of these inscribed stones, which were reused as building material, belong to an edict issued by the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius (491-518 AD).

Azraq Fort

The copious springs in the oasis of Azraq made it an attractive place for settlement since the Lower Paleolithic Period. In the Roman period, the site was of crucial importance because of its location near the northern tip of Wadi Al-Sirhan, the natural migration route between southern Syria and the interior of the Arabian Peninsula.

A chain of fortresses defended the entrance to the Oasis; Aseikim, 15 km northeast of Azraq and Uwainid, another 15 km to the southwest, close to the Shaumari Nature Reserve. The present fort at Azraq, built entirely from local basalt stones, was occupied from the time of the Tetrarchy (300 AD), as an inscription of Diocletian and Maximian suggests.

Another Latin inscription indicates that Azraq may have been called Dasianis or Basianis (The Basic) in Roman times. An Arabic inscription above the main entrance indicates a major rebuilding program in 1237 AD. During the Umayyad period, it was the place of retreat for Al-Walid II, who indignantly struck away from the court of his uncle and reigning Caliph, Hisham bin AbdulMalek (724-743 AD).

An interesting feature of Azraq South (Azraq Al-Shishan), is a large hexagonal reservoir built of dressed basalt stones and strengthened at regular intervals by rounded and triangular buttresses, placed against the outer and inner faces of the enclosing walls. These features bring to mind the large enclosures at Qasr Al-Hir East and Qasr Al-Hir West in Syria, which date to the Umayyad period. Azraq fort also was the headquarters of Lawrence of Arabia during the Arab Revolt.

Some 2 km to the north of the fort is an Umayyad farmhouse (Qasr Ain Al-Sil), which includes oil-presses and a bath consisting of 3 rooms: cold, warm, and hot.
 

Al-Muwaqqar

Virtually nothing remains of this qasr, which once stood on an elevated mound surveying the desert and the cultivated lands to the west. The qasr and the huge reservoir to the southeast are associated, on the basis of literary and epigraphic evidence, with the Caliph Yazid II (719-723 AD).

Numerous capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and Arabic inscriptions, as well as a water gauge to measure the depth of water in the reservoir, were recovered from the site.

Photos Gallery - Desert Castles in Jordan