121. Ḥallabāt, al- Qaṣr / Ghadīr as-Sarāḥ? | قصر الحلابات

az-Zarqā Governorate

Jāmi‘

JADIS no. 271 6001

MEGA no. 7597

Coordinates: 32°05'33.6"N 36°19'42.5"E

32.092667, 36.328472

Plan: Rectangular, almost square in ground plan, free standing in short distance to the NE tower of the palace, surrounded from the N, W and E by an arcaded portico rising on a slightly elevated podium (ziyādeh); semi-circular apse of miḥrāb protruding at the exterior of S wall, pentagonally mantled. Two rows with triple transversal arches divide the interior into three naves running parallel to the qibla wall. The arches rest on piers and buttresses. Main door in N wall in axis with the miḥrāb, each one smaller lateral door in E and W walls opening from the portico platform into the middle nave. The portico in front of the N-entrance forms a wider porch with a broad staircase of three steps; the central transept is covered by a concentric stone dome.

Measurements: 126.6 m²

Exterior: ca. 11.30 x 12.40 m.

Interior: 10.7 x 11.80 m, interior width of lateral (E and W) porticos 2.5 m (DK), width of frontal porch 3.00 m (EQ).

Building Materials: well-dressed cubic limestone blocks in solid masonry without mortar.

Construction details: The mosque was covered by three parallel barrel vaults resting on the arcades with three arches springing from each two pilasters on the E and and W walls and each two columns in the center of the prayer hall. Also arcades form the support of the three sided exterior porch in the E, W and north. In front of the central entrance of the N, the porch transept is covered by a semi-global dome out of concentric stone voussoirs resting on pendantifs. The central windows above the lateral entrances have intradosated polylobed lunettes (fig. 121.12). Samples of the delicate architectural decoration of the Qasr and the mosque have been exhibited by the Spanish Archaeological Mission under the directorate of Ignacio Arce in partial anastylosis in the open air lapidarium of the visitor center at the site entrance.

Preservation: Ruined; cleared and excavated by the DoA under the direction of Ghazi Bisheh (1979 and 1982). The Spanish Archaeological Mission excavated and conducted a partial anastylosis of the mosque until the entablature zone (2003-2013). The architectural monuments at al-Ḥallabāt are conserved and opened to visitors, the findings are presently displayed in a site museum at the entrance. The mosque is officially not in use for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): related to the mosque specifically none known. In the interior of the Qaṣr a large number of basalt blocks with a longer Greek text of a Byzantine military edict issued by Emperor Anastasius I have been randomly reused.

Date(s): Umayyad.

Traveler Reports: See description in PPUAES

Bibliography: PPUAES II A 2 (1907) 74-77. XVIII ill. 57a-58a; appendix XVII-XIX ill. 57a-58c; King - Lenzen - Rollefson 1983, 405. Darakdeh 1998, 34; Genequand 2002, 587-588 fig. 6,1; O’Kane 2005, 195 fig. 6: Arce 2007a, 325-344; Rashdan 2009, 45-49. 148 figs. 38- 40. 183 pl. 5b; Arce 20015b, 105 fig. 9.3; Hasanat - Kabir et alii 2010, fig. 7; Antun 2016, 109-110; for the Greek inscription of the military edict by Emperor Anastasios I see Arce - Feissel - Weber 2014; for the mosaic floors: Can - Gülbudak - Gökler 2017, 79 figs. 11-13.