Hisham's Palace

This site is about five kilometers to the north of Jericho. An Arab palace built by the Ummayad Caliph Hisham Ben Abdul Malek during his reign between 724-743AD. The palace reveals to us the progress of social life among Arabs at that time. It is supplied with a remarkable network of canals joined to magnificent luxurious baths that in no way are surpassed by the modern heating facilities and the luxury and comforts to life today. A lot of carved gypsum, which are now exhibited at the Palestine Archeological Museum in Jerusalem.

There are many aspects of the palace that resemble similar architecture and art in other cities starting from Jerusalem to Damascus. For instance, half-circular arches resembling those found on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem cover the guards' stone seats at the entrance of the palace. Over the niches stands the ceiling covering the entrance, consisting of several Arab arches. This entrance was roofed with bricks, which goes to show that laborers from Iraq participated in its construction. It was customary for the ceiling to consist of stones available in Syrian mason used in its roofs.

One of the eye-widening parts of the Palace is the Caliph's residence. The Caliph's bathroom is for instance reached by descending stairs to a depth of five meters. In the bathroom there was a fireplace, a hot water basin and a rest chamber. The seats placed on the sides were paved with colored mosaics. Water descended to the bathroom from a reservoir receiving its water from the main canal.

The square hall which includes the big and reception halls adjoining the bath area each of its sides has three round curves, and in every curve there stands the statue of a bare-breasted woman with her necklace, or the statue of a man wearing a loin cloth. This hall is singled out by its many colored mosaics making it a masterpiece of splendor and brilliance. The most important part is that which was found in the middle section of the wall where the Caliph used to sit watching the slave-girls dancing in front of him in that hall.

When the caliph left the bath, he resorted to a room whose internal parts have a half circular chamber, paved with the most spectacular mosaics in the world. The Seville orange tree appears in it. Under it and on its two sides can be noticed the emotions of the animals: a victorious and a vanquished deer. Around this figure there is a view in the shape of a Persian carpet. Sixteen kinds of stones were employed in paving it.