Lemmo2009
Umayyad Palace, Amman Citadel, Amman, Jordan
The huge Umayyad Palace complex stretches over the northern part of Citadel Hill. Part of the palace was built over pre-existing Roman structures, and an entire colonnaded Roman street was incorporated into it. Built after 720, when Amman was a provincial capital, the complex probably combined the residential quarters of the governor of Amman with administrative offices. It was still in use during the Islamic Abbasid (750–969) and Fatimid (969–1179) periods, although much of the brand-new palace was never rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 749.
The first building you come to, and the most impressive, is the domed entrance hall, reached by crossing the first of four plazas. Built over an earlier Byzantine building (which is why it's in the shape of a cross), the hall is decorated with stucco colonnettes and Persian-style geometric patterns, set off by foliage rosettes and a houndstooth zigzag. Much renovation has been carried out here in recent years, not all of it subtly – the new stucco around the interior walls deliberately clashes with the original work, and in 1998 a new dome was hastily constructed above the building, riding roughshod over considerable archeological controversy about whether there ever was a dome here in antiquity.
Beyond the entrance hall is the second large plaza, from which the colonnaded street leads ahead. This was the heart of the administrative quarter, surrounded by nine separate office or residential buildings (of which only four have been excavated), each in the typical Umayyad style of a self-contained bayt – small rooms looking onto a central courtyard. To the west of the courtyard is "Building F", which may have been the site of official audiences, since it was of elegant design and situated close to the entrance hall; two large iwans – audience rooms open on one side – with triple arcades give onto a central courtyard.
At the far end of the colonnaded street, a decorated doorway takes you through the Roman wall into the third plaza and the private residential quarters of the ruler of Amman.
Umayyad Palace, Amman Citadel, Amman, Jordan
The huge Umayyad Palace complex stretches over the northern part of Citadel Hill. Part of the palace was built over pre-existing Roman structures, and an entire colonnaded Roman street was incorporated into it. Built after 720, when Amman was a provincial capital, the complex probably combined the residential quarters of the governor of Amman with administrative offices. It was still in use during the Islamic Abbasid (750–969) and Fatimid (969–1179) periods, although much of the brand-new palace was never rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 749.
The first building you come to, and the most impressive, is the domed entrance hall, reached by crossing the first of four plazas. Built over an earlier Byzantine building (which is why it's in the shape of a cross), the hall is decorated with stucco colonnettes and Persian-style geometric patterns, set off by foliage rosettes and a houndstooth zigzag. Much renovation has been carried out here in recent years, not all of it subtly – the new stucco around the interior walls deliberately clashes with the original work, and in 1998 a new dome was hastily constructed above the building, riding roughshod over considerable archeological controversy about whether there ever was a dome here in antiquity.
Beyond the entrance hall is the second large plaza, from which the colonnaded street leads ahead. This was the heart of the administrative quarter, surrounded by nine separate office or residential buildings (of which only four have been excavated), each in the typical Umayyad style of a self-contained bayt – small rooms looking onto a central courtyard. To the west of the courtyard is "Building F", which may have been the site of official audiences, since it was of elegant design and situated close to the entrance hall; two large iwans – audience rooms open on one side – with triple arcades give onto a central courtyard.
At the far end of the colonnaded street, a decorated doorway takes you through the Roman wall into the third plaza and the private residential quarters of the ruler of Amman.