Qasr al-Banat, Girls castle or Palace of the Ladies ( ar, قَصْر ٱلْبَنَات, Qaṣr al-Banāt), are a set of
brick
A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
ruins of a residence dating from the 12th century in the
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n city of
Raqqa.
Location
The building is located in the former fortified town, about west of the eastern wall and north of the
Baghdad Gate. When in the 1970s the modern city began to expand rapidly, the entire historic area was overbuilt. The archaeological complex at Qasr al-Banat was urbanized with new housing so that only an open space of wide and long remained.
History
The
Roman-
Byzantine city of ''Callinicum'' was conquered by the
Arabs in 639 CE and renamed Raqqa ("the flood plain"). The
Umayyad caliph
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, هشام بن عبد الملك, Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; 691 – 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743.
Early life
Hisham was born in Damascus, the administra ...
(r. 723–743) is said by medieval sources to have built two palaces nearby. The
Abbasid Caliph
al-Mansur (r. 754–775), later called the city ar-Rafiqa ("the partner") and used it as a fortress against the Byzantines, building and attaching horseshoe-shaped walls on the straight side of the south wall that runs parallel to the former river bed of the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
. Ar-Rafiqa became the residence of
Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809). He set up a palace outside the city walls in the northeast. After this period, a renovation was carried out in 1165/66 under
Nur ad-Din Mahmud. The ruins present today have been dated to around 1168, from Nur al-Din's time.
By 1900, the ruins of Raqqa were repeatedly examined and documented by the likes of
Ernst Herzfeld, who along with
Friedrich Sarre conducted an archaeological survey of Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and the
Tigris in 1907. They explored Raqqa in detail and a little later, in 1909,
Gertrude Bell also visited the site, then largely an uninhabited ruin.
Style
The building is composed of various vaulted halls that lead to a central courtyard in
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
ornamental form. The building's construction is of
Iranian origin and was very rare in 12th century Syria. The well under Nur ad-Din in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
displays a similar form, which was widespread in Iran in
mosques, palaces and , in the center of their complexes.
The northern main hall fills the entire width of the courtyard divided into a three aisles. Surrounding it are a total of 41 irregular rooms that are not symmetrical. From 1977 to 1982
Kassem Toueir excavated and rebuilt the site for the Syrian Department of Antiquities. The walls and arches now visible are mainly reconstructed from newly fired bricks. One original diagonal wall segment remains, with a three-story
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
, where the various remains of the past are superimposed on the modern, with some ancient ''
muqarnas'' and stepped arched niches still recognisable. When Friedrich Sarre and Ernst Herzfeld visited the site in 1907, followed by Gertrude Bell in 1910, they found this part of the building as a single upright on an otherwise flat ruin.
The area is fenced and is normally closed, but visible from all sides.
File:Harun al-Rashid palace.jpg, alt=, Photo of the ruins in 1936, with more of the vaulting still standing
File:Raqqa,QasrBanatNW.jpg, alt=, Reconstruction with newly fired bricks. Part of original wall in center. View from the northwest.
File:Syr88RaqqaQasrAlBanat.jpg, alt=, View of the niches and ''muqarnas'' decoration remains
References
*Robert Hillenbrand: Eastern Islamic influences in Syria: Raqqa and Qal'at Ja'bar in the later 12th century in:. Julian Raby (ed.): The Art of Syria and the Jazira, 1100-1250 Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 37, 1985.
External links
Pat McDonnell Twair. Raqqa A Career at Saudi Aramco World, September / October 1995
{{Raqqa
Islamic architecture
Archaeological sites in Raqqa Governorate
Tourist attractions in Syria
Buildings and structures in Raqqa
History of Raqqa Governorate