Khirbat al-Mafjar

This complex is reminiscent of the so-called ‘desert castles’, Umeyyad edifices constructed in the territory of Greater Syria, rare vestiges of civic architecture of the period. It contains a palace, a mosque and baths, flanked to the east by a long courtyard the length of the site. An outer wall punctuated by circular towers placed at regular intervals encircles the complex as in many other contemporaneous rural buildings[1]. An irrigation system fed the palace and the baths from a spring located 8 km away.

To the south of the wall, a projecting entrance leads to a courtyard paved with mosaics, which contains a building in the centre, which according to Hamilton, may have been a square fountain surmounted with a square pavilion on two levels. A domed building surrounded by an octagonal peristyle, it possibly resembled Byzantine architecture in its structure or the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem, 691).

A broad entrance to the south of the courtyard leads through a vestibule furnished with stone benches, to the palace, a vast square edifice organised around a colonnaded courtyard bordered by two storey arcatures. Opposite the entrance, the reception hall is preceded by the entrance to the serdab, a cool summer room. The accommodation rooms occupy the east and west wings. To the south, a small mosque contains the vestiges of a square minaret. The north of the court contained the stables. This entire building is decorated with sculptures in stone, stucco (a material of Iranian origin) and paintings but the entrance of the hall is particularly elaborate. The decoration comprises bands and roundels with geometric, floral and animal designs, stucco latticework and feminine representations; the dancers sculpted in the round derive from the iconography of princely pleasures, a recurrent theme in Islamic arts in future periods[2].

The main mosque, which is reached through the palace and from outside is preceded by a large courtyard and comprises two aisles arranged in parallel to the qibla wall. The Great Mosque of Damascus (Syria, 715) was constructed on a similar plan.

The baths to the north-west are organised on a Roman model adapted to their social and political functions. The zone corresponding to the changing rooms is the most ornate: the main entrance to the east is dominated by a statue of the caliph resting on a pedestal decorated with two lions. Sixteen composite pillars support the central dome and the eight groin vaults of the roof, creating a central space which recalls, like the putative pavilion in the courtyard, eastern Christian buildings and more distantly Classical architecture. Accentuating this effect, the walls are punctuated by semi-circular exedrae surmounted by half-domes with walls ornamented by half-columns.  In the upper parts, groups of three windows let in ample light for this vast space. The southern end of the room contains a pool. The floor is covered with a stone mosaic (a technique of Roman origin) divided into 31 zones echoing the vaulting in the upper parts. The rose of the dome is decorated with a stucco rosette with six lobes each containing a human face encircled with acanthus leaves. The pendentives contain winged horses.

A second entrance in the south-west corner possibly served a private function, linking the baths directly to the palace through a double colonnade. The small room situated in the axis of this entrance probably served as an audience room. The apse which punctuates it is decorated with a celebrated floor mosaic[3], the political symbolism of which is underlined by the presence of a stone chain which supports the heavy crown of the caliph, reflecting Sasanian rituals.

[2] Panel with dancer, Egypt, C11^th – C12^th, ivory, openwork and engraved, traces of painting, Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. OA 6265/2. http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=20509

[3] This mosaic depicts on either side of a majestic tree, two groups of animals. To the right, a wild beast attacks a gazelle, while on the left, two other gazelles are left in peace.

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[3] Cette mosaïque présente, de part et d’autre d’un arbre majestueux, la figuration de deux groupes d’animaux. A droite, un fauve se jette sur une gazelle, tandis qu’à gauche deux autres gazelles évoluent en toute quiétude.