The Architecture and Decoration Varieties of Khirbat al Mafjar

Abstract

The 8th century desert palace Khirbat al Mafjar remains (in present day Jordan)
is a matchless specimen of Umayyad luxurious lifestyle and their perception for
art. The palace is amalgamation of variety of decoration type like carved and
moulded stucco, stone relief and birds and figure sculpture and also frescos
paintings. It is famous for its well-preserved floor mosaics. Although credited to
caliph Hisham (r. AD 724– 743) but his successor and also his nephew named as
Al Walid II probably built this palace (r. AD 743– 44) . However after five years
Al-Walid’s died and, the palace was smashed due to an earthquake. This article
discusses the building designed structure and the ornamentation and decoration
varieties used in the architecture. Though this palace is famous for its mosaics
but this paper covers its main parts of architecture and all types of varieties. It’s
an explorative study collected from historical data, literature and excavation
reports and in the end it concludes that this palace is unique not only for its
varieties but also the symbolic meanings of elements in the decoration. These
symbols have some logic or reason of representing in the palace that explains the
power and authority of the owner. In other words not just depiction of luxurious
lifestyle but the aesthetics and symbolic both designs are the parts of this
Umayyad era building.
Keywords: palace, architecture, decoration, varieties, aesthetic, symbolic.
Introduction:
Khibrat al- Mafjar also known as Hisham’s Palace is one of the most important cultural
symbols of early Islamic archaeology in Palestine. It was firstly excavated in 1930 by Robert
Hamilton who was member of British team and noted in 1873 in West. After Hamilton and
Baramaki , Doanld Whitecomb and Hmadan Taha also worked on it. It is the case of early
Islamic Umayyad architecture and its ruins spread in 60 hectares. These Mafjar ruins is also
the last recorded remaining’s of the Byzantine and also Romans in Creswell (1932) views,
while Hamilton (1959) and Baramiki (1948) believes it has Byzantine and Sassanian
influences