Al-Qastal

Al-Qastal is one of the oldest of the Umayyad palaces, as well as one of the best preserved.

The remains at Al-Qastal include a wide variety of sites such as the central palace, baths, a reservoir, a mosque, small houses, a cemetery”the oldest Muslim graveyard in Jordan” and a dam.

The qasr forms a square measuring 67.80 m to the side with 3-quarter round towers at the corners, and 3 semi-round towers on each side except the east entranceway. This entrance leads into a vestibule some 16 m deep and opens on to a central courtyard around 28 m2. Around the courtyard, 6 self-contained units (bayts) grouped, each consisting of 5 rooms. Both the portico and the rooms were originally 2 floors.

The central palace decorated with stone carvings, and twelve semicircular turrets buttressed and guarded the walls. To the north of the qasr is the mosque with a round tower resting on a square base. This tower, with it's spiral staircase, is all that remains of a minaret, which may well be, the earliest surviving minaret in the Islamic world.

More than 100 cisterns and large barrage, 400 m long and 4.25 m wide identified within a one-kilometer radius from the qasr. Plans are underway to restore the qasr and the ancient water system.

The courtyard of the palace housed a central water tank. North of the central palace are the remains of the mosque, interestingly, not oriented precisely eastwards facing Mecca.

One kilometer east of the main complex is the remains of a stone dam, built to save rainwater. Formed from the quarry which supplied stone for Qastal's palace, the dam had a capacity of around two million cubic meters.

Al-Qastal built in the early Islamic era by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, known mainly for building the magnificent Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem.

Desert Castles: Qasr al-Hallaba | Azraq Oasis | Azraq Fort | Qusayr Amra| Qasr Kharaneh | Qasr al-Mushatta | Al-Qastal | Qasr Tuba | Al-Muwaqqar | Hammam Al-Sarah