Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Aqsa, Cairo, China, Damascus, East
Africa, Fatimids, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Java, Malaysia, Mughals, nine-domed
mosques, Ottomans, Spain, Turkey, West
Africa
Mshatta
One of the most famous desert castles of the early Islamic
period.
The palace of Mshatta is located on the border of the
desert in Jordan (about 25 km south-west of
Amman). It is generally dated to the late Umayyad
period (the reign of Walid II) although an Abbasid
date has also been suggested.
The palace consists of a large square enclosure
with four semi-circular buttress towers. Outside the
enclosure are the remains of a large bath house which
has recently been excavated. The best-known feature
of this palace is the southern façade which consists
of a delicately carved stone frieze incorporating
animal and plant motifs within a geometric scheme
of twenty giant triangles (this façade is now in Berlin).
Internally the building is divided into three
longitudinal strips of equal size; only the central strip
(running north-south) was developed, and contains
within it the entrance, the central courtyard and the
audience hall. The area immediately inside the
entrance has only foundations to mark the positions
of rooms which were arranged symmetrically on
either side of a central axis. This consists of a narrow
vaulted passageway leading to a small square
courtyard, on one side of which is the small palace
mosque. This courtyard opens on to a large central
courtyard (including a rectangular pond) at the other
side of which is the heart of the palace. This consists
of three iwans, the central iwan leading to the throne
room (audience hall) and the side iwans leading to
housing units (buyut—pl. of bayt) either side of the
audience hall. The audience hall consists of a triple-
apsed room covered by a large brick dome.
The importance of the palace for architectural
historians is that it combines western (Roman and
Byzantine) elements with features derived from the art
of the Sassanians. The decorative frieze at the front of
the building is one of the best examples of this
combination. The vine leaves and naturalistic
depictions of animals resembles Byzantine art although
the decoration also includes popular Sassanian motifs
such as the senmurv, a dragon-like mythological beast,
and griffin. The most significant eastern feature of the
design is thought to be the way the geometric pattern
of giant triangles dic-tates the nature and space of the
more naturalistic ornament.
Other eastern features found at Mshatta include
the use of brickwork for vaults and the layout of the
palace which resembles that of early Islamic buildings
in Iraq (cf. Abbasid palaces at Ukaidhir and Samarra).
However, Byzantine elements are also present, most
notably in the basilical arrangement of the approach
to the triple-apsed room and in the motifs of the
stonework.