Khadra Palace
The Khadra Palace, known in Arabic as Qubbat al-Khadra (قبة الخضراء, lit. 'the Green Dome'), was a residence of the
It remained in official use after the fall of the Umayyads and transfer of the caliphate to Iraq by the
Location and composition
The Khadra Palace was situated immediately south of the Umayyad Mosque, which until Caliph al-Walid I's reconstruction, had consisted of only a part of the Christian cathedral of John the Baptist.[1] The palace originally lay behind the mosque's Mihrab of the Companions, which in Mu'awiya's time served as the mosque's central mihrab (prayer niche) in the southeastern section of the qibla (prayer direction) wall.[2]
History
There is little information available in the literary sources about the Khadra Palace. The original structure may have been a Byzantine palace for the governor of
The Khadra Palace was built of baked brick and timber and paved with marble. It was amid gardens characterized by fountains, myrtles and vines. An anecdote about Mu'awiya rebuilding it of stone in response to a Byzantine envoy's comment that the palace was fit for birds and rats, is probably a topos, according to the historian Finbar Barry Flood.[4] The Khadra Palace probably included the other structures directly behind mosque, including the mint, barracks, stables and prison, all separate buildings connected to each other in a complex with a courtyard in its center.[5]
The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) purchased the palace from Mu'awiya's grandson Khalid ibn Yazid and used it as his residence in the city.[3] Abd al-Malik's son and successor al-Walid I possibly remodeled the palace when he ordered the construction of the Umayyad Mosque.[6]
Reports that the palace was destroyed by the Abbasids are likely false. The Abbasids may have used the Khadra Palace or the Palace of Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan as a prison.
References
- ^ Flood 2001, p. 146.
- ^ Flood 2001, p. 149.
- ^ a b Flood 2001, p. 147.
- ^ Flood 2001, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Flood 2001, p. 148.
- ^ a b Flood 2001, p. 150.
- ^ a b Flood 2001, pp. 151–152, note 59.
- ^ Madelung 2000, p. 331.
- ^ Dunlop 1971, p. 39.
Bibliography
- Dunlop, Douglas M. (1971). Arab Civilization to A.D. 1500. New York and Washington: Praeger.
- Flood, Finbar Barry (2001). The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture. Leiden, Boston and Köln: Brill. ISBN 90-04-11638-9.
- Madelung, Wilferd (2000). "Abūʾl-Amayṭar al-Sufyānī". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 24: 327–341.