Qasr al-Mushatta

just south of Amman, Qasr al-Mushatta offers an excellent example of characteristic Umayyad architecture. The castle is an incomplete square palace with elaborate decoration and vaulted ceilings. The vast brick walls of the complex stretch 144 meters in each direction, and at least 23 round towers nestled along these walls. The palace mosque sited in the traditional position, inside and to the right of the main entrance. Throughout, there is a powerful symmetry and axiality in the planning, with a tendency to compartmentalization, often into three sections. The vaulting systems considered essentially Iraqi, but the stonemasonry and carved decoration is Hellenistic. Both influences and changed by their interaction, and this palace presents the most complete fusion of the two traditions in Umayyad architecture.

Historians believe that Qasr al-Mushatta, the largest and most lavish of all the Umayyad castles, begun by the Caliph Walid II who's murdered by forced laborers angry over the lack of water in the area. The palace built between 743-744 CE, but was never fully completed.

Qasr al-Mushatta