Qusayr 'Amra

Qusayr 'Amra, Qasr Amra
Native name
قصر عمرة (Arabic)
East (front) elevation and portion of south profile, 2009
LocationZarqa Governorate, Jordan
Coordinates31°48′06″N 36°35′14″E / 31.8017°N 36.5873°E / 31.8017; 36.5873
Elevation520m
Built743 A.D.
Official nameQuseir Amra
TypeCultural
Criteriai, iii, iv
Designated1985 (9th session)
Reference no.327
RegionArab States
Qusayr 'Amra is located in Jordan
Qusayr 'Amra
Location of Qusayr 'Amra, Qasr Amra in Jordan

Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, sometimes also named Qasr Amra (Arabic: قصر عمرة, romanized: Qaṣr ‘Amrah, lit. 'small qasr of '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,[1] whose dominance of the region was rising at the time. It is considered one of the most important examples of early Islamic art and architecture.

The building is actually the remnant of a larger complex that included an actual castle, meant as a royal retreat, without any military function, of which only the foundation remains. What stands today is a small country cabin. The foundation has a simple layout with a rectangular audience hall, hydraulic structures, and a bathhouse. The bathhouse is also one of the oldest surviving remains of a hammam in the historic Muslim world.[2][3][4]

It is most notable for the frescoes that remain mainly on the ceilings inside, which depict, among others, a group of rulers, hunting scenes, dancing scenes containing nude women, working craftsmen, the recently discovered "cycle of Jonah", and, above one bath chamber, the first known representation of heaven on a hemispherical surface, where the mirror-image of the constellations is accompanied by the figures of the zodiac. This has led to the designation of Qusayr 'Amra as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[5][6][7][1][8][9]

That status, and its location along Jordan's major east–west highway, relatively close to Amman, have made it a frequent tourist destination. A preservation project that began in 2010 involves both removing old maintenance attempts and implementing new ones to support the site better.[10]

  1. ^ a b Qusayr 'Amra Archived 28 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine, World Monuments Fund, accessed 14 December 2019
  2. ^ Sourdel-Thomine, J.; Louis, A. (2012). "Ḥammām". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill.
  3. ^ M. Bloom, Jonathan; S. Blair, Sheila, eds. (2009). "Bath". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Oxford University Press.
  4. ^ Marçais, Georges (1954). L'architecture musulmane d'Occident. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques. p. 215.
  5. ^ "The Frescoes of Qusayr Amra". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  6. ^ Raied T. Shuqum, Jordan's Qusayr Amra is a bathhouse for the noble Archived 13 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Arab Weekly, 28 August 2015
  7. ^ Fresco in Qasr Amra showing a hunter killing an animal and a dancing woman Archived 22 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Nicola & Pina Giordania, Frescoes in Qasr Amra, Jordan, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 2005
  8. ^ A. P., review of The Zodiac of Quṣayr 'Amra by Fritz Saxl; The Astronomical Significance of the Zodiac of the Quṣayr 'Amra by Arthur Beer Archived 13 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Isis, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Sep. 1933), pp. 504-506, The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society
  9. ^ The Colors of the Prince: Conservation and Knowledge in Qusayr 'Amra Archived 14 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, 12 November 2014, accessed 14 December 2019
  10. ^ Ababneh, Abdelkader (31 December 2014). "QUSAIR AMRA (JORDAN) WORLD HERITAGE SITE: A REVIEW OF CURRENT STATUS OF PRESENTATION AND PROTECTION APPROACHES" (PDF). Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry. 15 (2): 28–44 – via zenodo.