Quseir Amra

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Quseir Amra: A Gem of Early Islamic Art and Architecture

Quseir Amra, also known as Qasr Amra, is a remarkable example of early Islamic art and architecture, located in present-day eastern Jordan. This desert castle, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, offers a unique glimpse into the artistic and architectural traditions of the Umayyad period (661-750 AD).

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

Built in the early 8th century, this exceptionally well-preserved desert castle was both a fortress with a garrison and a residence of the Umayyad caliphs. The most outstanding features of this small pleasure palace are the reception hall and the hammam, both richly decorated with figurative murals that reflect the secular art of the time.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

Criterion (i): The Quseir Amra paintings constitute a unique artistic achievement in the Umayyad Period. The extensive fresco paintings of the reception hall and bath building, in creating a place of relaxation for the Prince away from earthly cares, provides new insight to early Islamic art and its derivation from classical and Byzantine precedents. The zodiac dome, human portraits and depictions of animals and birds in the hunting scenes are found only in this early period of Islamic art.

Criterion (iii): Quseir Amra bears exceptional testimony to the Umayyad civilization which was imbued with a pre-Islamic secular culture and whose austere religious environment left little trace in the visual arts.

Criterion (iv): Together with the remains of the fort/garrison buildings several hundred metres to the north and traces of agricultural water catchment works, the fresco-painted bath building with its reception hall and adjacent well, tank and water-lifting hydraulic system, drainage pipes and cesspool represent an outstanding example of an Umayyad desert establishment. In view of the fact that the relief decorations of the monumental frontal façade of Qasr el Mushatta were sent to the Berlin Museum and that the ruins of Qasr al Khayr al-Sharqui and Qasr al-Khayr al-Gharbi contain few decorative elements, Qusair Amra remains, together with Qasr Hisham and its mosaics, the best preserved of the decorated Umayyad palaces and castles in Jordan and Syria.

Encyclopedia Record: Qusayr 'Amra

Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, sometimes also named Qasr Amra, is the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan. It was built some time between 723 and 743, by Walid Ibn Yazid, the future Umayyad caliph Walid II, 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.

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