Qasr al-Mushatta

قصر المشتى

A desert palace, unfinished in its construction, attributed to the caliph al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik (125-126 AH), most of which has collapsed. The most important of the carved decorations of its southern façade, carved in limestone, was taken to Berlin: the Ottoman sultan Abdulhamid gave it to the German emperor Wilhelm II, and it has been in the Berlin Museum since 1903. The book describes its plan: a rectangular building flanked by semicircular towers, an entrance leading to a courtyard, then a larger courtyard followed by the royal wing and a throne hall with three niches; researchers consider one of the rooms to have been the palace mosque ¹².

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At a glance

Era: The Umayyad Period
Region: Levant & Iraq
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Overview

An unfinished desert palace, attributed to the caliph al-Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik (125–126 AH). Most of it has collapsed. ¹

Its decoration

The most important carvings of its southern facade, cut in limestone, were taken to Berlin. The Ottoman sultan Abdulhamid gave them to the German emperor Wilhelm II, and they have been in the Berlin Museum since 1903 CE. ¹

Its plan

The book describes a rectangular building flanked by semicircular towers. Its entrance leads to a courtyard, then to a larger courtyard, followed by the royal wing and the throne hall with three niches. ²

Researchers consider that one of the rooms was the palace mosque. ²

Sources

Muhammad Qabbani, The Umayyad State from Birth to Fall (Damascus: Dar Wahy al-Qalam, 2006) , p. 160
Muhammad Qabbani, The Umayyad State from Birth to Fall (Damascus: Dar Wahy al-Qalam, 2006) , p. 161

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Qasr al-Mushatta”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/qasr-al-mushatta/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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