The Arabs declared all the conquered lands to be the property of the Muslim community. The local population living on these lands had to pay a land tax to the Caliph.
At first, the Arabs did not force people of other faiths to convert to Islam. Non-Muslims had to pay only a special poll tax, which brought significant income to the Caliph's treasury. Muslims turned out to be merciful: Christians and Jews in the territories conquered by the Arabs were allowed to live according to the laws of their faith. Among Christians there were many educated people whom the Arab rulers recruited into their service. But after several decades, the attitude of Muslims towards people of other religions changed and their oppression began. Those who converted to Islam were exempt from taxes. They only donated alms to the poor. It was believed that Muslims pay taxes with their own blood, fighting against the "infidels."
The first caliphs tried to preserve equality between Muslims, ordering to divide the wealth of the conquered countries equally. When the Arabs seized the treasury of the Iranian kings, a gold-woven carpet of extraordinary beauty, adorned with precious stones, fell into their hands. In order for all the soldiers to get an equal share of the spoils, Caliph Omar ordered to cut the carpet into many pieces. The conquests changed the life and life of the Arabs. The Bedouin nomads who took part in them abandoned their previous occupations, settling in the captured cities and fertile valleys. Noble Arabs - generals and rulers of the provinces, began to imitate the nobles of the occupied countries. They built magnificent palaces, accumulated enormous wealth, and owned fertile lands. Caliphs, like other rulers of the countries of the East, surrounded themselves with wealth and luxury. Here is how the courtyard of the Caliph of the X century describes the court of the Caliph: Material from the site
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| Arabian Potter's Workshop |
“Usually the caliph sat on a throne - on a pillow upholstered in Armenian silk ... The caliph was wearing a black silk caftan ... His head was crowned with a high black headdress, he was girded with the sword of the prophet. ... Before him lay the Koran of Osman, previously kept in the treasury. On the shoulders of the Caliph is the cloak of the prophet, in his hands is the staff of the prophet. Slaves and bodyguards stood behind and around the throne with swords, battle axes and clubs in hand. On either side of the throne stood slave servants, driving flies away from him with fans that shimmered in gold and silver. When the time for reception approached, the servants stood with slingshots in their hands, from which they fired at crows and other birds so that they would not croak and shout. "
In the middle of the 8th century, the caliphs built a new capital on the Tigris River near ancient Babylon - Baghdad... The ruins of Babylon were dismantled by the Arabs and became the building blocks for the construction of buildings. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of silver and tens of thousands of kilograms of gold flocked to Baghdad from all parts of the Arab state. It turned into the richest city in the East. The population of Baghdad was over a quarter of a million inhabitants. Contemporaries called it "the capital of Islam, the throne of the empire, the center of beauty, culture and art."
THE ART OF THE HALIPHATE OF THE OMEYYADS
In the era of the first Arab conquests and during the reign of the Umayyad dynasty (661-750), who reigned in the ancient city of Damascus (Syria), new settlements arose far from the capital, along the path of military detachments. The cities of Kufa and Ba "sra" in the south and Mosu "l in the north of Iraq, Fustat in Egypt and Kairouan in Tunisia were more like fortified military camps. To protect and expand the borders of the Muslim world, fortresses were built on its outskirts - ribats, abodes of pious warriors, fighters for the faith.
In rural areas of Palestine and Syria, the Umayyads built their estates. With the desolation of these places, they turned into "castles of the desert". The most famous of them are Qusayr Amra (10s of the 8th century), Mshatta (first half of the 8th century) in Jordan and Khirbet al-Mafjar (40s of the 8th century) in Israel, Qasr al- Khair al-Sharki (about 728) in Syria - were decorated with ornamental and subject paintings, mosaics, reliefs made of stone and knock (artificial marble). These castles and the ribats preserved in the Tunisian cities of Sousse and Monastir were built of hewn stone. The outer walls with towers-bastions and a single entrance in the center of the main facade formed a square in plan. All rooms overlooked a cobbled courtyard.
The development of the cult architecture of the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria and Palestine began when the famous Qubbat al-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) was erected in Jerusalem - the third most important after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the Muslim shrine. Tradition connects the construction of Qubbat al-Sakhra with the most important event in the sacred history of Islam - the miraculous timeless night journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and the ascent to the throne of Allah. Then the Prophet was instructed about the obligatory daily fivefold prayer and shown the tree crowning the world, the heavenly Kaaba, heaven and hell.
Qubbat al-Sahra was erected in 687-691. on the top of a mountain sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims - here, according to legend, Abraham, in confirmation of his faith, was ready to sacrifice his son to God, and Solomon built the Jerusalem Temple. According to the historian of the X century. al-Mukaddasi, this building was supposed to overshadow the nearby
Quseir-Amra. 10sVIIIv. Jordan.
**** Abraham is revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Muslims call him Ibrahim and honor him as the first preacher of monotheism, the ancestor of the Jews and Arabs, as well as the restorer of the Kaaba destroyed by the Flood. Solomon (965-928 BC) - Hebrew king, revered by Muslims as the prophet Suleiman.
* Stalactites are a type of architectural decoration that outwardly resembles natural stalactites (lime deposits in caves), for which they received this name.
** Lantern - a dedicated part of an architectural structure with openings for lighting and ventilation.
*** Tent - conical or pyramidal four - or polyhedral roof of the building.
the house of the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulcher, "so that the minds of Muslims are not blinded" by its magnificence and enormity. In 874, the Arab historian al-Yakubi wrote about the place of construction and architecture of the Jerusalem shrine: “This is the Rock, about which it is reported that the Messenger of God put his foot on it ... then Abd al-Malik (caliph in 685-705 . - Approx. ed.) built a dome over the Rock ... and people took it into the custom to go around the Rock exactly as they did around the Kaaba. " Muslims perceived Qubbat al-Sahra as a symbol of the victory and triumph of Islam.
The architects managed to create a structure that really reigns over the city: in the panorama of Old Jerusalem, a huge dome, emitting a golden glow, ascended over the rock, immediately catches the eye. At half the height, the central, domed part of the building is surrounded by an octagonal gallery, the interior of which is divided by pillars and columns in two, creating a double bypass around the sacred rock. There is a cave under the rock that has been turned into a small sanctuary.
Inside Qubbat al-Sahra, four powerful pillars with graceful marble columns spaced between them frame the rock protruding one and a half meters above the floor level. The height of the space under the dome (about twenty meters) is equal to the diameter of the dome, which gives the building structure stability and amazing proportionality. The proportionality of Qubbat al-Sahra is also related to the fact that the number of architectural elements of each type is a multiple of four. Perhaps this is no coincidence, since the number "four" is associated with four letters in the Arabic spelling of the word "Allah" and with a square as a symbol of the Kaaba.
The interior decoration of the building is striking in splendor. Its walls are lined with patterned marble panels; the columns are crowned with gilded capitals; above them
Qubbat al-Sahra (Dome of the Rock). 687-691 Jerusalem. Israel.
Qubbat al-Sahra (Dome of the Rock). Interior. 687-691 Jerusalem. Israel.
Umayyad Mosque. 705-715 biennium Damascus. Syria.
stretched massive beams, which, like the lintels of the four entrance doors, are sheathed below with embossed and gilded bronze plates. The tops of the windows and the framing of the arches are decorated with mosaics of green, blue, mother-of-pearl, purple and gold. The dome, rebuilt in 1022, is covered from the inside with a patterned relief and painting. The exterior design of the building, which was renewed in the 16th and 19th centuries, is no less splendid.
In the cities of Syria and Palestine, the first cathedral mosques were built on plots purchased from Christians. The new structures used materials and parts of the old buildings. This is how one of the most significant monuments of the era was erected - the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (705-715), which included the remains of the Roman sanctuary of Jupiter of Damascus and the Christian church of John the Baptist. The Damascus Mosque was adorned with colorful patterned marble and magnificent mosaics with paintings of the fantastic garden city inside.
Fine art monuments from the Umayyad period - the mosaics of the Dome of the Rock and the Great Mosque in Damascus, paintings and sculptures from the "desert castles" - show how the art of the Muslim Middle Ages acquired its characteristic features. Subject lines connecting images with reality were gradually lost. Decorativeness became more and more important. The three-dimensional perception of space was replaced by two-dimensional, the volumetric interpretation of the figures - their silhouette or contour drawing. The composition included motives developed by the official art of the empires of the Ancient East. Later, in the medieval art of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Muslim Spain, these traditions were established in patterns depicted on fabrics, carpets, embroidery, ceramics, glass and metal products.
THE ART OF THE ABBASSID KHALIPHAT
The Caliphs of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) moved the center of the Caliphate to Iraq. The desire of these rulers to establish the power of the dynasty was expressed in an unprecedented scale of urban development. The idea of the city as a symbol of power was embodied in the architecture of the new capital - Baghdad (Iraq), founded on the banks of the Tigris River in 762. Initially, the city was called Madinat al-Salam (City of Peace); it was assumed that representatives of all social and ethnic groups of the state would live in it. The Caliph personally examined the plan of the future city outlined by ash on the ground and instructed the astrologers to choose the time of its foundation. Madinat al-Salam - round in plan, fortified with walls and a moat, with four golden domes over the city gates facing the four cardinal directions, with the Caliph's palace in the center of residential buildings - was essentially a model of the Universe, in the middle of which was the throne of the “ruler of the faithful ( Muslims. - Approx. ed.) ". Visible from everywhere, the green dome of the palace of the caliphs was decorated with a bronze figure of a horseman with a spear, to which rumor attributed the ability to indicate where the enemy was approaching the capital. The green dome, as it were, crowned the palace, the capital, and the entire empire, symbolizing the omnipotence of the Caliph, who in the Abbasid era was considered a deputy of Allah himself.
The emphatically monumental style of Abbasid art finally took shape in the architecture and design of the building built in the middle of the 9th century. the city-residence of Samarra (from the Arabic name, which means "pleasing to the eye"), stretching for more than thirty kilometers along the banks of the Tigris. The first of the Samarra palaces, Jausak al-
* Astrology (from Greek"Astronomer" - "Star" and "logos" - "word", "knowledge") - the doctrine of the connection between the location of heavenly bodies and historical events, the fate of people and peoples.
Khakani, built in 836, occupied an area, only the width of which reached about one and a half kilometers. In Jausak al-Khakani there were complexes of government, ceremonial and residential ground and underground (summer) premises, enfilades of courtyards, underground drainage tanks, gardens with pools, barracks, stables. The brick pillar of the Great Mosque of Samarra with an area of 156x240 meters was considered an unrivaled religious building. The walls, fortified with semicircular bastions and corner towers, and the giant spiral Malvia minaret, over fifty meters high, have survived from it. Unlike Baghdad, which was erected as a palace, each of the palaces of Samarra was built as a city, resembling in its composition and scale the residences of the kings of Assyria and Babylonia.
Samarra palace painting with planar contour figures, which rather denoted than depicted hunting, feasting, and dancing, also partially revived the traditions of the art of ancient Eastern empires. On the contrary, the reliefs that adorned the mosques, palaces and residential buildings of Samarra testified that at that time a new type of ornament began to form in Muslim art - arabesque, as the Europeans called it.
The perfectly preserved Ibn Tulun Mosque (876-879) in Cairo (Egypt) brilliantly completed a series of grandiose Abbasid swords
Minaret Malvia. MiddleIXv. Sanbenito. Syria.
ARABESQUE
Arabesque (from French arabesque - "Arabic") - this is how Europeans called the complex pattern characteristic of Arab and Iranian art, created on the basis of precise mathematical calculations. Arabesque is built on the repetition and multiplication of one or more elements of the pattern - geometric shapes, plant motifs. Inscriptions, images of animals, birds, people and fantastic creatures can be interwoven into arabesque drawing. Such an ornament virtually excludes the background: one pattern is inscribed in another, densely filling the surface. The Europeans called this principle "the fear of emptiness." The pattern of the arabesque is in tune with the rhythm of Arabic classical poetry and music and is consistent with the ideas of Muslim theologians about the "indefinitely continuing fabric of the Universe." The endless "movement" of the arabesque, proceeding in a given rhythm, can be stopped or continued at any point without violating the integrity of the pattern. Arabesque can be placed on a surface of any configuration and size: there is no fundamental difference between ornamental compositions on the wall of a building or carpet, on the binding of a manuscript, and on ceramic or jewelry.
Tiles from the Alhambra.XIVv. National Archaeological Museum, Madrid.
Tiles from the Alcazar Palace.XIVv. Seville. Spain.
tey column type. It was distinguished from its Iraqi predecessors by a more compact layout and the appearance of surprisingly proportional
high pointed arches, which since that time have become a characteristic feature of the works of architecture in Muslim countries.
The history of the medieval Muslim world is full of turbulent political events. In the XI-XII centuries. Seljuk Turks conquered Central Asia, Iran, Northern Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. In the XIII century. they were replaced by the Mongols who captured Baghdad in 1258. They put an end to the Abbasid caliphate.
In North Africa and southern Spain, the rule of the Almoravid dynasties (1056-1146) and the Almohads ( 1121/1122-1269 biennium). For about three centuries, the founders of Cairo (969), the Fatimid caliphs, and then the Ayyubid sultans (late 12th - first half of the 13th century) and the Mamluks (1250-1517) ruled in the heart of the Muslim world (until 1171). In the Middle East, as a result of the wars of conquest of the Central Asian ruler Timur (1370-1405), a state was created, which marked the beginning of the era of the great Muslim empires of the late Middle Ages.
KHALIF'S PALACE
HISHAMA
History teacher and
social studies
Skopkareva K.P.
the square of modern Jericho has a hill
20 meters high. Here at the beginning of our
century archaeologists have discovered what remains of
ancient Jericho, one of the oldest
cities of the world.
North of the site of ancient Jericho
(about three kilometers) are
the ruins of the palace of the Caliph of Damascus Hisham ibn
Abdal-Malik, who lived in the first half
VIII century AD. Hisham Palace or Khirbet el Mafjar is from
a perfectly preserved monument of the Omeyad
architecture. The construction of the palace began at the time
reign of Walid II - Caliph of the Umeyad dynasty
at a time when the ruler of the Holy Land was the Caliph
Hisham ibn Abd el-Malik (724 - 743). This palace, which is a large
two-story square building decorated with
magnificent mosaic patterns. He
consisted of two colonnades, two mosques and two
baths with a magnificent mosaic floor. He was
destroyed by an earthquake 4 years
later. Probably only in Hisham's palace
can
see
most
preserved
the magnificent mosaic of Israel. Remains of thread
stone found in this place give
idea of how impressive
was the palace itself. "The tree of life" - this is the name of one of the most
beautiful mosaics of the Middle East, if not the whole world.
She covered the floor of the guest room of the bathhouse.
complex. Imitating beautiful Persian
carpets, mosaics are relatively well preserved,
only slightly affected by earthquakes. Many statues, columns, mosaics, etc. today
kept in the Israel Museum and the Rockefeller Museum in
Jerusalem Hisham's palace was a national park.
Today, it is an architectural monument under protection
Palestinian Authority.
June 16th, 2015, 07:45 pm
In the final part of our walk in Jericho, we will visit the main attraction of this beautiful city - the unique ruins of the Umayyad Caliphate era, known as Khirbet al-Mafjar or Hisham's palace.
The ruins are located about five kilometers north of modern Jericho, a palace, a complex of baths and agricultural land. At first, the palace was attributed to the era of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abdul-Malik (724-743), but now there is reason to believe that the palace was built by his nephew and heir Al-Walid II ibn Yazid (743-744).
Alwaleed appointed two sons as his heirs, whom he took in from a slave. This led to tension in the family, and he was killed. Therefore, the Caliph ruled for only two years, during which he seemed to have managed to build this monumental complex - which is even more impressive.
Alas, the palace of Hisham - Al Walid II "lived" for only five years - in 749 a strong earthquake occurred in the region, which almost completely destroyed the imposing structure.
Excavations of Khirbet al-Mafjar began in 1934 under the leadership of archaeologists Dimitri Baramka and Robert Hamilton, and continued until 1948 (most of the finds are in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem -). The latter published the results of his work in 1959 in the book Khirbat al-Mafjar: An Arabian Mansion in the Jordanian Valley, however, Baramka's research is lacking and has not been published. Also, the results of excavations that were carried out in the northern part of the complex in the 60s of the last century have not been published.
In 2006, excavations were resumed under the leadership of Dr. Hamdan Takhi and are allegedly carried out to this day with the help of the University of Chicago. I didn't quite understand what was going on there, but the place looks completely abandoned, apart from a small museum on the territory of the complex. Khirbet al-Mafjar is not fenced in any way, and anyone can easily get to the ruins and commit an act of vandalism over them. I'm surprised no one has done this yet.
This is how it looks at the entrance to the complex. The palace and other structures are fenced off by a "wall" about half a meter, which any eight-year-old child can jump over. I guess there is no security here, especially at night.
Well, now let's enter the territory of the complex
Let's take a walk, touch the stones with our nasty dirty little hands, look at everything with our own eyes, and try to absorb the atmosphere of this unique place. It seems to me that it is impossible to convey it with any photographs, but all the same I will try.
Our group had a motley audience, as is always the case on this kind of trip. Someone is interested in history and archeology more, someone less, but in this case, the reaction was almost the same - upon entering the territory of the complex, everyone was speechless for a second, and then they admitted that Hisham's palace is a “macheu meyuhad”, that something special.
From myself, I note that the palace of Hisham or Khirbet al-Mafjar left an indelible impression on me. I think this is one of the most beautiful places that I have seen in my life.
This "window" I dreamed of seeing no less than the already mentioned many times Karantal monastery. And it did not disappoint)
A little more about the Umayyad dynasty - I want to mention a few interesting complexes associated with the Caliphate. Some of them are located in Israel, such as the mind-blowing and completely abandoned Hurvat Minim, which no one seems to know about at all. Even in Israel there is Al-Sinnabra or Sinn al-Nabra, and in our opinion Khirbet al-Karak or Beit Yareakh is an ancient city, the ruins of which are located between the moshav Kinneret and kibbutz Dganiya.
Three more interesting places are already outside of our historical: Qasr al-Khair al-Sharqi, the "Eastern Castle" in the center of the Syrian desert and the Byzantine-style twin of Qasr al-Khair al-Gharbi, built nearby. "Gemini" is located 80 kilometers from Palmyra - for the fate of which the entire enlightened part of humanity is now worried. And finally, Qasr al-Khallabat and the Qasr Hammam al-Sarah complex, located two kilometers to the east of it, are all part of the "Castle in the Desert" located not far from Amman, the capital of Jordan. Architecturally, Hisham's palace belongs to the category "Castle in the Desert".
In addition, the Umayyads founded the well-known city of Ramla in Israel, and the Caliph Suleiman ibn Abdul-Malik erected fortifications, a market and a large White Mosque, from which only a 27-meter minaret has survived, now called the White Tower. Also, the Umayyads built our beloved Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the equally famous Umayyad Mosque or the Great Mosque in Damascus - one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. My chances of getting there are about the same as in Palmyra, so it's good that at least I managed to get to Jericho)
Well, now let's enter the palace
Hisham Palace is a two-story square building with round towers at the corners. The central hall was flanked by four arched galleries that served as rooms for guests and servants, as well as a storehouse. In the northern part there was a small mosque, and stairs at the edges of the central hall led to the second floor, where there were living quarters.
Here, in the foreground, we see the ruins of a mosque, which for some reason very much resemble the churches in the Nabatean city of Shivta - another stunning place that I recommend everyone to visit. In the meantime, we will return to the palace.
We will admire its columns, unfortunately, as I understand it, mostly restored, but you can imagine what it looked like.
Ornaments of Stukko (there is some story associated with this particular artifact, but by that time I was already too crazy about all this beautiful and did not remember it).
This does not take into account the fact that the main attraction of the palace, the magnificent mosaic on the floor, is inaccessible to our eyes - it was covered with sand, apparently from a barbarian. Only a few fragments can be viewed.
This is how it looks in all its glory
There are mosaics in the main baths on the territory of the complex, but visitors are not allowed there. However, the main mosaic is in the Divan, a small room for special guests in the northwest corner of the frigidarium, and we can see it, at least from above.
They are not allowed inside the Sofa either, but you can go upstairs and see this, without exaggeration, a wonder of the world. For your convenience, I turned over the mosaic and give it a separate frame.
The mosaic is called "The Tree of Life" and symbolizes the two main states of the soul - war and peace. Moreover, one should look at the mosaic exactly the opposite, from above, so that the war is on the left, and the world is on the right. Arabs will never stretch out their left hand for a handshake - this is considered disrespectful, since the right hand is cleaner.
The main fragment of the mosaic, a lion tearing apart a deer. You will not find a mosaic of such level even in the unique museum of the Good Samaritan -. On the floor there is a simpler pattern, and on the sides there are "benches" on which the guests of honor were sitting. It is believed that the Caliph himself liked to sit in the center, on the very Tree of Life.
General frame - Sofa and Hisham's palace
And now let's walk a little along the "agricultural" part of the complex, which indicates that the Caliph, be it Hisham or his heir, built the palace not only for entertainment and recreation - they worked here, grew agricultural products and made wine.
Interesting ornamental fragments were found here.
And in the house of the era of the Abassid Caliphate, someone created a road paved with blue bricks
Model of the central hall of Hisham's palace. St. Peter's Cathedral nervously smokes in the corner.
Well, now let's move on to the pavilion
The pavilion was located in the center of the garden in front of the palace. In the middle of the pavilion was a fountain, and around the fountain was a pool, surrounded by octagonal walls with high arches. It is believed that the garden and the palace were once connected by a bridge from which the Caliph could admire the surrounding landscapes and watch horse races.
A preserved fragment of the ornament, no less famous than the "star window" in the palace.
The bridge was obviously around here somewhere
Let's take a little more, both a general and a fragmentary view.
And, in order to take a break from all this splendor, we will go to the Hisham Museum.
Animal (tired, don't blame me)
Grapes and vases
There is also about the history of Khirbet al-Mafjar and the Umayyadoff caliphate
Vase amphorae
Unfortunately, a swastika was also found. Apparently the Umayyads were Nazis in disguise.
In fact, "E", I took from Racine, which once again points to the harm of higher education, and especially reading "Phaedra" in French.
Leaving Hisham's Palace
And finally - one more shot of Hisham's Karantal - a window with a star. This concludes my Jericho journey, and there is no better final note to complete it.
I am already missing you. And I dream to return.
As a result of a large-scale battle in 637, the Sassanian Empire falls under the invasion of Muslim Arabs. As a result of this event, Iraq is completely taken over by the Arab Caliphate. For a long time, Damascus was the capital of the caliphate, until Abu-Jafar Al-Mansur transferred it to Baghdad, which at that time was still a small village. Then one could still guess that the city would acquire legendary world fame.
Not far from Baghdad, there are now the ruins of the old Uhaidir fortress. The road there goes through the desert, and one gets the impression that the outlines of the huge walls pop up like a mirage.
Fortress history
For a long time, researchers did not even have a version of the history of this palace-fortress. Nothing was found to dispel this mystery. The approximate time of the construction of the palace is the 7th-8th century. The Englishman Cresswell suggested that Isa ibn Musa, the nephew of al-Saffah, could have been the owner and builder of Uhaidir. The latter gave the right to be the caliph to his brother al-Mansur, provided that Isa ibn Musa would act as his heir. The first years were successful for Isa, he was appointed governor of Kufa and a palace was built. But soon al-Mansur wanted to transfer the throne to his son, and he began to look for ways to eliminate Isa.
Isa was sent to the hottest military troubles, but came out of there alive. They tried to poison him, but even then he escaped with the loss of a mustache and beard. The last test for Isa was an attempt to strangle his own son in front of his eyes, after which he voluntarily renounced his claims to the throne. But he had the right to seize power if he manages to outlive the son of the caliph.
A new wave of Isa's repression begins after the death of the Caliph in 775. The new caliph wants to inherit again his son al-Hadi, so it is necessary to eliminate the claimant. Isa is deprived of his governorship, and in 778 he goes into isolation, probably just to the Ukhaidir palace. By this time, Ukhaidir, most likely, had already acted as a country residence of the governor of Kufa.
Description of the palace
Isa spent almost all his days in this palace. The palace measures 175 by 169 meters. Externally, it is surrounded by a wall 17 meters high. The wall is perfectly fortified for a possible assault - there are corner round towers, and half-towers with loopholes, and in the past there was a covered gallery. It is also interesting that there are hinged loopholes for firing at the enemy who came right up to the wall. Europe began to erect such a structure only in the XIV century.
You can get inside only through a single gate. On the right you can see the ruins of an old mosque. In the northern corner is the palace itself.
The palace has three floors. Many rooms and corridors are connected in an intricate web. There are also premises for storing supplies and weapons. Apparently, the owner of the palace was seriously concerned about his own safety. Moreover, all the rooms are not connected to each other; a corridor has been allocated for this purpose. But to our time, all the interior decoration of the premises has not survived, and only in some places brickwork comes across.
Uhaidir Palace belongs to the early era of Abbasid rule. It was here that many of the future architectural solutions of the Arab world were born.
