Qasr Kharana
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Qasr Kharana (Arabic: قصر خرّانة) is one of the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan, about 60km east of Amman and relatively close to the border with Saudi Arabia.
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[edit] History
The castle was built in the early Ummayyad period (inscriptional evidence confirms a date prior to 710 AD) by the Umayyad caliph Walid I whose dominance of the region was rising at the time. Qasr Kharana is an important example of early Islamic art and architecture.
Scholarship has suggested that Qasr Kharana might have served a variety of defensive, agricultural and/or commercial agendas similar to other Umayyad palaces in greater Syria. Having a limited water supply it is probable that Qasr Kharana sustained only temporary usage and there are different theories concerning the function of the castle, it may have been a fortress, a meeting place for Bedouins (between themselves or with the Ummayyad governor), or used as a caravenserai.
[edit] Location
Qasr Kharana is 60km east of Amman and today stands stand by an important desert road that links Amman with Azraq, the Saudi Arabian border, remote areas of Eastern Jordan and Iraq. Driving from Amman it takes approximately 1 hour to reach the site by car.
The imposing castle enjoys a dramatic setting being strategically set on on relatively high ground (although the desert here is flat, and it is only fifteen meters above the neighboring wadi).
Kharana is isolated from present day human settlement for several kilometers to the north, 12 km to the south, and 30 km to the west, The view east across the eastern desert is uninterrupted as far as the Saudi Arabian border (approximately 80km away).
[edit] Alternate spellings
Transliteration from Arabic gives rise to many spelling variants including Qasr al Harrana, Qasr al Kharanah, Kharaneh and Hraneh.
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