Qasr Amra

Qasr Amra (Arabic: قصر عمرة‎), often Quseir Amra or Qusayr Amra, is in the Eastern Desert region and is the best-known of the desert castles. It was built early in the 8th century (probably between 711 and 715) by the Umayyad caliph Walid I whose dominance of the region was rising at the time. It is considered one of the most important examples of early Islamic art and architecture.

Qasr Amra

The building is the remnant of a larger complex that included an actual castle, of which only the foundation remains. What stands today is a small country cabin, meant as a royal retreat, without any military function. It is most notable for the frescoes that remain on the ceilings inside, which depict hunting, naked women and, above one bath chamber, an accurate representation of the zodiac. These have led to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of four in the country. That status, and its location along Jordan's major east-west highway, relatively close to Amman, have made it a frequent tourist destination.

Get in

Public transport is scarce. The only way to complete the itinerary is by car or with an organized tour from Amman. In the case of an independent itinerary, it is advisable to mark in advance the GPS position of the individual monuments to be visited and to carefully evaluate the route also in relation to the distances.

Qasr Amra is on the right of Highway 40, about 85 km east of Amman and 15 km from Qasr al-Kharana, still on the same road that leads to Amman.

Get around

Plan to have plenty of water and food supplies as many castles are located in desert areas.

Avoid traveling off-the-beaten-path areas unless you have an off-road vehicle.

See

Qasr Amra is open May-September 08:00-18:00, and October-April 08:00-16:00.

It is a site recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This recognition comes from the fact that it is a "unique" in the Islamic world, since its interior is completely frescoed even though Islam does not allow depictions of people. The total surface of the frescoes is 350 m², and over 250 human and animal figures have been counted.

At the time of its construction, which dates back to Walid I (705 - 715 CE), who conceived it as a place of leisure and delights for the Umayyad Caliphs, it had various buildings and was surrounded by lush gardens, thanks to the abundance of water that the area provided. Some archaeologists also attribute to it a role of protection of the caravan route of Azraq, Kharanah and Qasr at-Tubah, and consider this construction as the place where the caliphs could spend periods of leisure and at the same time carry out their political duties. The precious frescoes show an unusual representation of people and environments including a series of kings considered infidels and even a naked woman bathing. This representation is unusual in the Islamic world and this also constitutes the peculiarity and interest of the site. Qasr Amra is among the best preserved Umayyad monuments.

Simple and elegant in its architectural lines, the building is composed of three round arches that define three naves; the central one ends with a room that most likely served as a throne room; the two lateral naves end with a small apse each, protruding outwards with respect to the central nave that ends in a linear manner, which must have been a small alcove.

The entire internal wall surface is covered with frescoes of exceptional historical and artistic value, which were largely restored in the seventies of the twentieth century. The work to safeguard the frescoes is still ongoing by French and Italian scientific expeditions. The paintings were badly damaged after the abandonment of the structure, because attempts were made to destroy them by scraping the walls down to a man's height, and by throwing stones at the wall areas that were too high to be reached by hand; the aim was to eliminate the depictions. Experts say that these paintings are to be attributed to Arab or Syrian artists, in which the very strong influence of Byzantine art is expressed. On the ceiling of the central nave are frescoes depicting rural scenes; on the west wall is the painting of the Six Sovereigns, some of whom have been identified as the Emperor of Byzantium; the Visigoth king Rodrigo; the last Sassanid ruler Chosroe and the Abyssinian Negus, all characters who were enemies of Islam, who are deliberately depicted in an attitude of deference towards the Caliph. Next to it, a female figure reclining on a sofa and surrounded by various characters; then a naked woman emerging from a tub in the hammam. There are also numerous hunting scenes.

The frescoes on the vault, which are considered the most interesting as they bear witness to life at the time, depict various trades: quarryman, stonemason, bricklayer, carpenter, blacksmith, in short all the jobs that were used for the construction of this extraordinary building in the desert. The allegories of Victory, Philosophy and Poetry are frescoed next to the windows, indicated by their Greek names.

In the Hammam, which extends along half the left side of the building, three rooms can be distinguished: the tepidarium , with a round barrel vault; a second room that served as both a tepidarium and a calidarium and is surmounted by a cross vault; and finally the calidarium . From the second room a series of pipes reached the entire building of the hammam to distribute the hot water; there is a large tub that rests on a double floor, equipped with a cavity that allows the circulation of hot air. The rooms of the hammam also boast cycles of frescoes (a naked woman; three women bathing are the most notable works). The dome of the third room is of great interest for its fresco that represents a celestial map of the northern hemisphere; it features the constellations of the Zodiac and characters from Greco-Roman mythology.

Outside the building, the remains of the hydraulic system are visible: a wooden wheel powered by a camel drew water from a well which was conveyed into a tank connected to the hammam or to a reserve basin.