Qusayr 'Amra
Type:
Palace complexes,
Wall paintings
Date:
First half of the eighth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Jordan
Description:
Qusayr 'Amra is a desert palace complex that was built as a private rather than religious monument for a prince or caliph. It includes an audience hall and bath complex with extensive early Islamic figural painting. The barrel-vaulted audience hall has representations of construction activities (possibly relevant to the construction of this very building), hunting, and women with bare torsos. Six kings (identified through inscriptions in Arabic and Greek) pay their respects to the Umayyad caliph.
The three-room bath includes additional nudity, with bathing women in the warm room, also called a tepidarium. The dressing room (apodyterium) has a diamond-patterned vault with human and animal figures, including a bear playing a musical instrument. The hot room, or caldarium, has a dome decorated with a heavenly map showing constellations and zodiac imagery.
The three-room bath includes additional nudity, with bathing women in the warm room, also called a tepidarium. The dressing room (apodyterium) has a diamond-patterned vault with human and animal figures, including a bear playing a musical instrument. The hot room, or caldarium, has a dome decorated with a heavenly map showing constellations and zodiac imagery.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
4
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about Qusayr 'Amra on the Metropolitan Museum's website.
• See more photos and read about the conservation of Qusayr 'Amra on the website of the World Monuments Fund.
• Watch Gaetano Palumbo, World Monuments Fund Program Director for North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, discuss photos from Qusayr
'Amra.
• Watch a video about Qusayr 'Amra.
• Visit the page on Qusayr 'Amra on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Image Credits:
Heba Mostafa, Navid Jamali, Flickr: Alex Brey
