In the early 8th century the Umayyad caliphs and princes built a ring of retreats in the steppe east of Amman. Qasr Kharana looks like a fortress but was a meeting place, with an inscription dated AD 710.
Qusayr Amra is a small bathhouse whose walls and domes are covered with frescoes: hunting scenes, musicians, dancers and the oldest surviving painting of the night sky on a dome. At Qasr al-Azraq, a black-basalt fort with a stone door, T. E. Lawrence spent the winter of 1917–18 during the Great Arab Revolt.
Don't miss
- Frescoes and zodiac dome of Qusayr Amra
- Qasr Kharana
- Qasr al-Azraq and its stone door
- Qasr al-Hallabat mosaics
