Qasr al-Qastal in עמאן

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• ar

  Nezar Alsous

  :: 04 April 2018 07:23:05

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  Jesús Díaz

  :: 13 February 2018 18:53:35

  Al-Qastal is an Umayyad residential and palatial complex located 25 kilometers SW of Amman in Jordan. Built by the Umayyad caliph Abd el-Malik ibn Marwan (685-705 AD), the same one who built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, al-Qastal is possibly the oldest and most complete Umayyad provincial community of the Near East. The ruins of the palace and minaret of the mosque are perhaps the oldest of the Umayyad period known by experts. Unlike other Umayyad palaces and complexes in the region that were not completed, al-Qastal was completed and inhabited throughout the entire Umayyad period and part of the Abbasid period. In fact, while building Qasr Mushatta only five kilometers to the east, Caliph Walid II (743-44 AD) may well have resided in al-Qastal. It is thought that the origin of the word Qastal is from the Latin "castellum" or small castle hinting at the possibility that the Umayyads built their complex on a Roman military structure. In 2001, the Department of Antiquities of Jordan applied for recognition of this site as a World Heritage Site to UNESCO. The place is undeveloped for tourism. As such there are no facilities of any kind on site. One should be mindful not to disturb anything, to keep out of the excavated areas and not to litter the place. Therefore, one's garbage should be collected and discarded appropriately.