198. Kharāneh, Qaṣr al- | قصر الخرّانة/ الحرّانة

‘Ammān Governorate

Masjid - open air desert mosque

JADIS no. 281 2001

MEGA no. 3556 (Jāmi‘ not listed as a site element)

Coordinates: 31°43'43.5"N 36°27'48.2"E

31.728742, 36.463397

Plan: broad oval with entrance from the W, miḥrāb protruding at the S wall to outside.

Measurements: unknown.

Exterior: unknown.

Interior: unknown.

Building Materials: light brown limestone boulders mixed with chert and dark brown flints.

Construction details: unworked limestone boulders heaped in various layers without the use of mortar.

Preservation: The mosque is still recognizable in Google-Earth about 300 m southeast of the qaṣr. It must have only recently been removed, most probably to use the stones for lining the tourist trails.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s): unknown, probably Umayyad. For similar open air desert mosques in the vicinity of Umayyad palaces see here Quṣayr ‘Amrā (no. 297) and Qaṣr aṭ-Ṭūbā (no. 393).

Traveler Reports: none known.

Bibliography: Rashdan 2009, 19-27; Hasanat - Kabir et alii 2010, Fig. 4a; Arce 2014, 335-355.