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Mushatta,
Some 10 km
southeast of Al-Qastal and within the precincts of Queen Alia International
Airport, lies Qasr Al-Mushatta, the most famous of all the Umayyad palaces.
Externally, the palace is nearly 144 m2, articulated by
regular semi-round buttresses with a single monumental gateway in the
middle of the south facade. Internally, the space is divided into what
has been called "The Successive Symmetrical Subdivision into Three".
This sophisticated plan shows an axial, focused on the basilica
reception-hall in the northern central tract. This hall, which ends in
a triconch, was entered through a triple-arched entrance, the central
arch being higher than the lateral ones, thus resembling a triumphal arch.
The monument reveals a mixture of Romano-Byzantine, Sassanian
and Coptic influences evident in its construction technique (combination
of stone and baked brick), roofing system, and decoration. The most remarkable
feature of Mushatta, however, is its elaborately carved stone facade which
now graces the Pergamum Museum in Berlin.
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