Ghumdan Palace
Ghumdan Palace | |
---|---|
Sana'a | |
Country | Yemen |
Coordinates | 15°21′11″N 44°12′53″E / 15.353115°N 44.214722°E |
Completed | Mid third century AD (?) |
Ghumdan Palace, also Qasir Ghumdan or Ghamdan Palace, is an ancient palace and fortress in
of the Old City of Sana'a. It is sometimes referred to as Ghumdan Tower.According to Arab geographer and historian,
History
Though the former palace is now in ruins, its style, a towered, multi-floor structure, has provided the prototype for the tower-type houses built in Sana’a. It expressed the "exquisite architecture of the old city".[7]
The palace was used by the last
The palace was reconstructed some time later but deteriorated over time. The ruins of the palace tower are now in the form of a mound that extends from the east of the Great Mosque to the north of Bab Al-Yemen.
Architecture
The palace tower or citadel was built at the top of a hill. Historians such as Al-Hamdani, Mohammed Al-Qazwani and Dr. Adnan Tarsis dispute the height of the original palace. Given its grandeur, its height was exaggerated in historic accounts. Most claims are between six and ten storeys.[2] In the early 9th century, it was reported to have been "seven storeys tall with the highest room being of polychrome marble, and its roof a single slab of green marble." Al-Hamdani writing in the tenth-century in the eighth book of his celebrated geography of the antiquities of the Yemen, Al-Iklīl (الإكليل) provides this description:
...a huge edifice of twenties stories, each story ten cubits high.
raven from a kite. At each corner stood a brazen lion, and when the wind blew it entered the hollow interior of the effigies and made a sound like roaring lions., A Literary History of the Arabs, page 24
Built over a square layout,
In literature
The palace is mentioned in many pieces of Arabic poetry with poets singing about its beauty.[12] Legend states that when birds flew over the palace, their shadows could be seen on the ceiling.[2][6]
Dhu Jadan al-Himyari (fl. 6th - 7th century) wrote:
- You have heard of Ghumdan's towers:
- From the mountain top it lowers
- Well carpentered, with stones for stay,
- Plastered with clean, damp, slippery clay;
- Oil lamps within it show
- At even like the lightening's glow.
- This once-new castle is ashes today
- The flames have eaten its beauty away.
The poet Adiy b. Zayd al-Hiri wrote:
- What is there after San'a in which once lived
- Rulers of a kingdom whose gifts were lavish?
- Its builder raised it to the flying clouds,
- Its lofty chambers gave forth musk.
- Protected by mountains against the attacks of enemies,
- Its lofty heights unscalable.
- Pleasant was the voice of the night-owl there,
- Answered at even by a flute player.
Long after its destruction, the 10th century geographer
- Twenty stories high the palace stood,
- Flirting with the stars and the clouds.
- If Paradise lies over the skies,
- Ghumdan borders on Paradise.
See also
Notes
- ^ 13 metres (43 ft)in height, perhaps referring to the tower of the palace.
References
- ^ "First castle". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2019-07-25.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84162-212-5. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ R. Serjeant & R. Lewcock, San'a'; An Arabian Islamic City, London 1983
- ^ Al-Hamdāni, al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad, The Antiquities of South Arabia - The Eighth Book of Al-Iklīl, Oxford University Press 1938, pp. 8-9; 18–21
- ^ Aithe, p.30.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-900988-15-5. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56656-571-4. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ a b Al-Alaya, Zaid (1 October 2005). "The Ancient & Mysterious Palace of Ghamdan". Culture & Society. Yemen Observer. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012.
- ^ Encyclopedia Americana. Americana Corp. 1966. p. 119. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-85989-408-1. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ Al-Hamdāni, al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad, The Antiquities of South Arabia - The Eighth Book of Al-Iklīl, Oxford University Press 1938, p. 15
- ^ "Citadels of High Yemen". CPA Media. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
- ^ Houtsma, M. Th. (1993). First encyclopaedia of Islam. p. 15.
quotes verses on Ghumdan ... which reflect the legends clinging to the castle as a wonder of architecture
- ^ Grabar, Oleg (1987). The Formation of Islamic Art. Yale University Press. p. 76.
Yet there existed a myth of grandiose secular architecture … and its best known example is the fabulous Ghumdan in Yemen.