Al-Muwaqqar ( ar, الموقر) is a district in the

Amman Governorate Amman Governorate, officially known as Muhafazat al-Asima ( ar, محافظة العاصمة, 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 ...

of north-western

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. The village contains the scant ruins of an

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

palace, the Qasr al-Muwaqqar, one of the

desert castle The Umayyad desert castles, of which the desert castles of Jordan represent a prominent part, are fortified palaces or castles in what was the then Umayyad province of Bilad al-Sham. Most Umayyad "desert castles" are scattered over the semi-arid ...

s. Little remains of the palace today except several acanthus leaf capitals and gauge of a water

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

.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 Jordan. The Bani Sakher began migrating to Jordan as early as the 16th century and grew to become an influential tribe as by around the mid 18th century. ...

, like Al-Khraisha, Al-Arabid, Al-Jbour, Al-Qudahh.

Archaeology: Qasr al-Muwaqqar

The village of contains the ruins of an

complex, the Qasr al-Muwaqqar, a ''qasr''-type fortified palace also known as a

. Almost nothing remains of the palace today except several acanthus-leaf capitals and a water level gauge for a palace

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

, inscribed with

Kufic 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. It ...

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 ( ar, الأزرق 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 Archaeolo ...

via

Qusayr 'Amra It is not known who the woman represents, but due to the apparent classical and late Roman style of depicting her, a number of mythological persons have been suggested. Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, ''lit.'' "small qasr of 'Amra", sometimes also na ...

, on which all these localities acted as way stations.

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 and ...

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

Archaeology: Qasr al-Muwaqqar

Two distinct ''qusur'', Muwaqqar and Mushash

See also

References

External links