Al-Muwaqqar () is a district in the
Amman Governorate
Amman Governorate, officially known as Muhafazat al-Asima (, English language, English translation: the Capital Governorate), is one of the governorates in Jordan. The governorate's capital is the city of Amman, which is also the country's capi ...
of north-western
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
. The village contains the scant ruins of an
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
palace, the Qasr al-Muwaqqar, one of the
desert castle
The desert castles or ''qasrs'' are often called Umayyad desert castles, since the vast majority of these fortified palaces or castles were built by the Umayyad dynasty in their province of Bilad ash-Sham, with a few Abbasid exceptions. The des ...
s. Little remains of the palace today except several
acanthus
Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to:
Biology
*Acanthus ...
leaf capitals and gauge of a water
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
.
[Al-Muwaqqar]
at AtlasTours.net
The district is the headquarters of the
3rd Armored Division and a police training center.
Most of the families which are staying in the region are from
Bani Sakhr
The Beni Sakhar confederacy is one of the largest and most influential tribal confederacies in The Kingdoms of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Its founder, Sakher bin Tha'labah al Tayy, a great-grandson of Jalhamah, likely lived in the 3rd century AD, m ...
, like Al-Khraisha, Al-Arabid, Al-Jbour, Al-Qudahh.
Archaeology: Qasr al-Muwaqqar
The village contains the ruins of an Umayyad complex, the Qasr al-Muwaqqar, a ''qasr''-type fortified palace also known as a desert castle. Almost nothing remains of the palace today except several
acanthus
Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to:
Biology
*Acanthus ...
-leaf capitals and
[ a water level gauge for a palace ]cistern
A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster.
Cisterns are disti ...
, inscribed with Kufic
The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...
signs which indicate a maximum level of over thirty feet (c. 10 metres), very impressive for the arid climate of the area."Jordan's Desert Castles"
''Aramco World'' magazine, March 1963, pp. 10-13 (see p. 11).
Two distinct ''qusur'', Muwaqqar and Mushash
Despite some name confusion, which combined the two names into one, the following are two distinct Umayyad sites which contain ''qusur'' (plural of ''qasr''): al-Muwaqqar and Qasr al-Mushash.
They lay 19.4 km apart on the historical caravan route between Amman and
Azraq
Azraq ( meaning "blue") is a small town in Zarqa Governorate in central-eastern Jordan, east of Amman. The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004. The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base is located in Azraq.
History
Prehistory
archaeology, Archaeologic ...
via
Qusayr 'Amra
Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, sometimes also named Qasr Amra (), is the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan. It was built some time between 723 and 743, by Walid Ibn Yazid, the future Umayyad caliph Walid II, who ...
, on which all these localities acted as way stations.
[
]
See also
*Desert castles
The desert castles or ''qasrs'' are often called Umayyad desert castles, since the vast majority of these fortified palaces or castles were built by the Umayyad dynasty in their province of Bilad ash-Sham, with a few Abbasid exceptions. The des ...
*Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...
*Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...
*Jordanian art
Jordanian art has a very Ancient history, ancient history. Some of the earliest figurines, found at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, have been dated to the Neolithic period. A distinct Jordanian aesthetic in art and architecture emerged as part of a bro ...
*List of castles in Jordan
This is a list of fortified buildings and complexes in Jordan from across all historical periods: forts, fortresses, castles, fortified palace complexes, caravanserais, History of the Hajj#Syrian route , pilgrims' inns, etc.
Some date to Ancient ...
References
External links
Information and image from Qasr Al MuwaqqarPhotos of al-Muwaqqar
at the American Center of Research
The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past an ...
Photos of Qasr al-Muwaqqar
at the Manar al-Athar
Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...
photo archive
Populated places in Amman Governorate
Umayyad palaces
Umayyad architecture in Jordan
Districts of Amman
{{Jordan-geo-stub