Umayyad Palaces

A dispute arose between Ali ibn Abi Talib and MU'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan over the caliphate, the Banu Umayyah eventually won, and in 661 they established the first state in which the caliphs inherited power from their fathers, and they also moved the capital of the caliphate from Medina to Damascus. MU'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan declared himself caliph, and began his reign by going to Jerusalem, where he was sold to him in the year 661 ad, and MU'awiya's interest in Jerusalem appeared through the restoration of its wall and the care of its orchards and forests, and Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan and his son Al-Walid have immortal works in Jerusalem, some of which still exist today, the construction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the dome of the Rock Mosque are and the Jerusalem road to Ramle. As for al-Walid, he was sworn to the caliphate-it is said-on the surface of the holy rock, and he continued his father's work in building the Al-Aqsa Mosque until he completed it, and arranged servants and sponsors for him to maintain it.

Umayyad palaces in Jerusalem:

Abd al-Malik and his son Al-Walid built palaces in Jerusalem, but a severe earthquake destroyed these palaces.

The Umayyad palaces were built according to a unified principle and a symmetrical architectural form, the Umayyad Palace has the same details starting from the wall surrounding the building and then the inner courtyard, which is supervised by corridors followed by rooms in one or two layers, and the outer wall takes the character of fortification away from openings and decorations.

The splendor of art and decoration is evidenced by the monuments discovered in the areas of these palaces.in the three palaces in Jerusalem built by the Umayyad caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan or the palaces of his son Caliph al-Walid Ibn Abdul Malik, we find that each of them is surrounded by external walls with circular towers at the corners and semicircular towers in the middle of each rib.

Excavations have revealed parts of these dilapidated palaces up to a height of four meters, and it was noted that the walls of the palaces were separated from the Haram by a street 430 cm wide, which was tiled with satin tiles with dimensions of 25×35 cm and 60×70 cm. The ruins of these three palaces indicate the presence of one of them south of the wall of the Haram and the second west of it, and the Palace south of the Haram is large, its dimensions are 48×96 m, it has a door on the East and another on the West, and in the center a courtyard surrounded by corridors behind which there are spacious rooms with a length of 17 M or 20 m.columns, crowns and pieces of handrails were found at this site, as well as colorful decorations were found in the western wing.. The other building is smaller in area, but similar in plan, and the third building is also similar in its construction materials, style and mosaics to the previous two.

As for the Khirbet palace, built by al-Walid bin Abdul Malik, it is a 73×67 m building, with round corners and towers, and it has a huge door in the center from the east side, surrounded by two towers from two sides, and this door is characterized by its square Dome, which has half a tower on each side, and the dome was open. The palace had a hall decorated with marble crowns, followed by the great three-winged foyer, which is a square with a side of 20 M.its floor and walls were covered to a height of two meters with alabaster, and at the top of the walls were glass and plant mosaics, and the foyer was roofed with slanting tiles, and the foyer adjoined five rooms that were covered with stone mosaics in black and white or light red and dark red or yellow with brown.

The AL-mafjar palace built by Hisham Ibn Abdul Malik does not differ from the rest of the Umayyad palaces in its plan and dimensions, it is almost square with a side of 64.50 m. In its four corners there are reinforced circular towers, in the middle of the northern and western walls there are semicircular towers, and in the south there is a quadrangular Tower with a mihrab, which may have been a minaret.the palace's nave was 28×29 m wide.

The nave is surrounded by porticoes, above which are balconies of the upper tier, the floor of the nave is tiled with black tiles and under it are well-organized water drains.

This palace is distinguished by its very important mosaic decorations, consisting of colored stone cubes that form figurative or decorative images that are wonderfully designed and executed.

Stone sculptures of whole or Half Men and women were located inside and depended on the supports of the side arches, and between the supports of these arches were statues of male people who were holding artichoke leaves over a row of sheep. The neck of the dome consists of twelve mihrabi cavities in each of which stands a male or female statue in a row, and the entrance facade includes two mihrabi in one of which a statue was found that is believed to be of Caliph Hisham Bin Abdul Malik, comparing it with the statue of Hisham in Qasr Al-Hayr al-Gharb, and there are statues that filled the niches on the walls of the hall, and these statues are one of the importance of the bomber Palace.

The Israeli occupation authorities continue their efforts to obliterate the Arab Islamic features of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the Umayyad palaces area, falsify its identity and ancient history, steal its historical monuments and stones, in order to impose an alleged biblical narrative, and prepare for the construction of the alleged 'temple'.

With its ancient stones and ancient buildings built by the Umayyads, the Umayyad palaces represent an Arab Islamic heritage, and a symbol of Islamic civilization in Palestine, which refutes the claims of the occupation of discovering Jewish antiquities and archaeological assets in the region during the excavations conducted over the past years

The Umayyad palaces are being subjected to a systematic Judaization campaign today, the occupation municipality has turned them into a tourist shrine, and the mayor of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem Nir Barkat opened last week what he called "Mutahir" in those palaces, and Jewish tour guides are waiting in the place to accompany the tourist delegations and tell visitors the falsified version of the history of the place.

It showed Umayyad palaces at the stage of the early Islamic conquest as the home of the emirate, palaces for Muslim caliphs and Islamic institutions to manage the affairs of Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine about one thousand four hundred years ago.

In 1967, the occupation took control of this area, and tried to confiscate it under the pretext of the so-called 'Holy Basin', in order to strangle the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the southern and western regions, and also turned it into museums, shrines and Talmudic manifestations, to narrate the Talmudic biblical narrative.

Settlement organizations claim that the palaces were built in the area of the temple's' Holy Basin', but excavations that lasted more than 40 years with the participation of Jewish archaeologists, proved that the buildings are Umayyad palaces and an emirate House, and there is no evidence indicating their relationship to the temple or others.

 


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