Qasr Amra
(Amra Palace)
Amra is situated
around 28 kilometers from
Qasr
Azraq.
It is the
best preserved of the desert castles, and
probably the most charming. It was built
during the reign of the Caliph Walid I
(705-715 CE) as a luxurious bath house.
The building
consists of three long halls with vaulted
ceilings. Its plain exterior belies the
beauty within, where the ceilings and walls
are covered with colorful frescoes.
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Directly
opposite the main doorway is a fresco of the
caliph sitting on his throne. On the south
wall other frescoes depict six other rulers
of the day.
Of these,
four have been identified: Roderick the
Visigoth, the Sassanian ruler Krisa, the
Negus of Abyssinia, and the Byzantine
emperor.
The two
others are thought to be the leaders of
China and the Turks. These frescoes either
imply that the present Umayyad Caliph was
their equal, or it could simply be a
pictorial list of the enemies of Islam.
Many other frescoes in the main audience
chamber offer fantastic portrayals of humans
and animals.
This is interesting because after the advent
of Islam, any illustration of living beings
was prohibited. The audience chamber, which
was used for feasting, meetings, and
cultural events, leads through an
antechamber into the baths.
The caldarium, or steam room, is capped with
a domed ceiling where a fresco lays out a
map of the heavens, with the constellations
of the northern hemisphere and the signs of
the Zodiac. The two bathrooms have fine
mosaic floors.
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