Dictionary of islamic architecture

Further reading:
D.Berhens-Abouseif, 
Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An
Introduction,
Supplements to Muqarnas vol. 3, Leiden
1989, 47–50. Contains a general summary and
bibliography.
Plan of Umayyad palatial complex, Amman (after Northedge)
Amr, Mosque of

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20
K.A.C.Creswell, 
A Short Account of Early Muslim
Architecture,
revised and enlarged ed. J.Allan, Aldershot
1989, 8, 15, 17, 46, and chapter 14, 303–14. This gives a
detailed account of the building.
Anjar (
Ayn Jar)
Umayyad city in Lebanon.
Anjar was built by the Umayyad caliph al-Walid in
714–15 CE. The city is contained within a
rectangular enclosure (370 m north-south and 310
m east-west) supported by a series of solid semi-
circular buttress towers and four hollow corner
towers. There are four principal gateways and the
walls were originally crowned with stepped
merlons (crenellation). Internally the city is built to
a regular plan recalling earlier Byzantine and
Roman cities. There are four principal colonnaded
streets which meet at the centre in a tetrapy-lon.
Many of the buildings are built of alternating
courses of ashlar blocks and layers of baked brick.
There is a series of shop units (3.5 m wide and 5 m
deep) lining the main streets behind the colon-
nades. In the south-east quadrant of the city is a
palace within a rectangular enclosure (about 70 by
60 m). The interior of the palace is divided into four
units arranged symmetrically; at the south end there
is a building with with a triple aisles and an apse
resembling a basilical hall, this is duplicated at the
north end. To the north of the palace is the mosque
which is entered from the west street. The mosque
is a rectangular structure (47 by 30 m) with a small
central courtyard surrounded by two aisles on the
west, east and qibla (south) sides whilst there is one
aisle on the north side. On either side of the mihrab
are two entrances which lead into a narrow lane
that connects with the palace. There is a small bath
house next to the north gate which comprises a
square vaulted hall, leading via two intermediate
rooms into a hot room.