The Mshatta Facade; decorated part of the facade of the 8th century Umayyad residential palace of Qasr Mshatta, one of the Desert Castles of Jordan

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The Mshatta Facade; decorated part of the facade of the 8th century Umayyad residential palace of Qasr Mshatta, one of the Desert Castles of Jordan, which is now installed in the south wing of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. The facade belonged to the Qasr Mshatta or Mshatta palace, which was excavated about 30 km south of the contemporary Jordanian capital of Amman. It is thought to have served as a winter residence and storage halls during the Umayyad period. The building of the palace probably dates to the era of the caliph Al-Walid II (743-744). After Al Walid was murdered, it was left incomplete and later ruined in an earthquake. Unusually for an Umayyad building, the main structures are built from burnt bricks resting on a foundation layer of finely dressed stone; the carved facade is also in stone.

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Photo credit: © World History Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 8th, al-walid, architecture, archival, archive, berlin, bricks, building, burnt, caliph, carved, castles, century, decorated, desert, facade, germany, historical, history, ii, islamic, jordan, mshatta, museum, palace, part, pergamon, qasr, residential, stone, umayyad