Publication Date
First quarter of the 2nd century / first half of the 8th century
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;9;ar
Library Location
It is located 14 km southeast of the city of Madaba, Umm Al-Walid, Jordan
Date
First quarter of the 2nd century / first half of the 8th century
Notes
The site consists of a group of buildings and facilities that include a late Roman temple and a shrine, in addition to many water tanks and dams. In the Umayyad era - during the first quarter of the 2nd century / first half of the 8th century - a settlement emerged on the site over an area extending 400 m from north to south, and 300 m from east to west. Near the eastern edge of this area, a palace and a small mosque were built adjacent to it. The palace takes the shape of a square with a side length of 70 metres, in the corners of which circular support towers were erected. Standing out from the surrounding walls are three semicircular supporting towers, except for the eastern wall, where there are only two towers. The walls were built of trimmed blocks of limestone as well as other stone blocks with protrusions in the middle, probably transported from other buildings at the site and reused. The entrance opens in the eastern wall in the middle of two quarter-circular towers, and leads to a corridor on either side of which stone benches with armrests are erected. From its far end, the corridor overlooks a square courtyard with a side length of 33 m, paved with stone slabs. Excavation work indicated that a colonnade surrounded this square, and behind it was built a barrier or low wall that separated a group of houses from the central square. Confined between the low walls are narrow courtyards or courtyards behind which extend five groups of houses (independent residential units). At the corners of the corridor, small rooms were set up containing sanitary facilities (toilets). In the room located in the southeast corner, pottery vessels and others made of steatite were found, in addition to some bronze pieces such as jugs, pots, and two incense burners with two round lids on top. A stone threshold was also found in the northwestern room, the front of which was covered with a layer of plaster, on which was engraved in relief the image of a leopard chasing a deer. To the east of the palace, and at a distance of 60 meters from it, there is a small mosque, its dimensions are 14 x 10.3 metres. The mosque has two entrances: one in the northern wall and the other in the eastern wall. The latter leads to an open courtyard equipped with stone benches on the western side. Two construction stages can be distinguished inside the mosque. The mosque is divided into three corridors by two corridors, each consisting of three arches extending along the Qibla wall. In the center of the qibla wall there is a hollow mihrab protruding from the zenith of the southern wall. It should be noted that the Umm al-Walid settlement was established in the middle of an environment dominated by Christianity, and that without coexistence and cooperation with the Christian residents of Madaba, Natal, and Umm al-Rasas, the settlement would not have existed and survived. Umm al-Walid therefore tells a story of integration, not an attempt to establish a settlement isolated from its immediate surroundings.
Sample Text
Mohammad Najjar “Umm al-Walid” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;9;ar
