Hisham's Palace

Hisham's Palace was established north of Jericho's urban centre. It was separated from Jericho by the Wadi Nueima. The archaeologist Michael Jennings suggests that the separation provided protection as Jericho was at the time a mostly Christian settlement. Its position that meant accessing the main water source in the area, the Ayn al-Sultan spring, was impractical. Instead, the palace drew its water from springs at Naaran to the north-west. Aqueducts were built to transport water from the springs to the palace. The palace was immediately east of a road running north from Jericho, through the Jordan Valley, and connecting to Damascus. ==History==

It is difficult to establish a secure historical framework for Hisham's Palace. No textual sources reference the site, and archaeological excavations are the only source of further information. An ostracon bearing the name "Hisham" was found during the course of Baramki's excavations. This was interpreted as evidence that the site was built during the reign of the caliph Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. Robert Hamilton subsequently argued that the palace was a residence of al-Walid ibn Yazid, a nephew of Hisham who was famous for his extravagant lifestyle. Archaeologically it is certain that the site is a product of the Umayyad dynasty in the first half of the 8th century, although the specifics of its patronage and use remain unknown. and Donald Whitcomb described the "Tree of Life" mosaic in the bath house as "the most famous of Umayyad mosaics". Hisham's Palace belongs to the category of desert castles, a collection of monuments dating to the Umayyad dynasty and found throughout Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. Although there is great variation in the size, location, and presumed function of these different sites, they can be connected to the patronage of different figures in the Umayyad ruling family. Though it has been described as one of the Umayyad desert castles, Hisham's Palace is located in a fertile area. Consequently, it has become more common to refer to it as a qasr (plural: qusur), an Arabic word roughly translating to "palace". As a category of building, the Umayyad qusur had several typical characteristics. The main structure was usually two-storeys tall and consisted of ranges of buildings arranged around a courtyard. Other buildings were often found nearby, creating a complex of related structures. This could include a bath building, a mosque, outlying residential buildings, and a large walled enclosure called a hayr that extended east beyond the buildings. The site is commonly thought to have been destroyed during the earthquake of 749 and then abandoned, but an analysis of Baramki's detailed reporting shows that this is incorrect. Instead the ceramic record indicates that the occupation continued through the Ayyubid-Mamluk period, with a significant phase of occupation between 900 and 1000 during the Abbasid and Fatimid periods. A 2013 geological investigation of the site suggest the palace was destroyed by the later earthquake of 1033. Evidence of faulting and damage corresponded to a more severe earthquake than that of 749. ==Excavation history==

The site was discovered in 1873. In 2015, an agreement was signed between the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Japan International Cooperation Agency to enable the mosaic in the palace, one of the largest in the world, to be uncovered and readied for display. ==Architecture==

The palace, bath complex, and external mosque are enclosed by a retaining wall. The southern gate was known from Baramki's excavations, but the 21st-century discovery of a northern gate in alignment indicates that the development of Hisham's Palace was conceived of as a complete unit to be constructed at once. Palace The largest building at the site is the palace, a roughly square building with round towers at the corners. It originally had two stories. Entrance was through a gate on the center of the east side. The inner rooms were aligned around a central paved portico (riwaq), which featured an underground cellar (sirdab); for refuge from the heat. The room to the south of the portico was a mosque with a mihrab built into the outer wall. Bath complex The bath complex is located just north of the palace across an open area. This free-standing structure is almost 30 meters square, more precisely , and three of its sides feature semi-circular exedrae which project out from the building, three each to the south and west, and two to the east. The east face of the bath had an ornate entrance in its center, flanked by exedrae. Along much of the southern side of the main, square hall is a pool. The interior floor surface of the bath complex was paved with mosaic decoration. A special reception room, or diwan, was entered from the northwest corner. The floor of this room is paved with the famous "tree of life" mosaic, depicting a lion and gazelles at the foot of a tree. The actual bathing rooms were attached to the northern wall of the complex, and were heated from below the floor by hypocausts. Agricultural annex To the north of the bath complex are the ruins of a large square structure which has clearly gone through many phases of reuse and reconstruction. This part of the site was initially assumed to be a khan or caravanserai, but recent excavations have indicated that the northern area had an agricultural function connected to the hayr or agricultural enclosure during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. Photo gallery File:Hisham Palace in Jericho3.jpg|Decorated stone window File:Hishams Palace placard toilet Author MDarter.jpg|Bath house latrine File:Jericho-Hishams-Palace-K-153.jpg|Part of the mosaic floor in the bathing hall ==Decorative elements==

The decorative elements at Hisham's Palace are some of the finest representations of Umayyad period art and are well documented in the publications of Robert Hamilton. Mosaics The floor of the main bathing hall is covered with colorful geometric mosaics, at the center of which is a large kaleidoscope design. The enormous mosaic is divided into 25 square bays that are separated by pier clusters. A large variety of geometric designs cover the floor, which are rarely repeated. The colors used are primarily blue, red, green, yellow, and orange. After years of restoration funded by Japan, the mosaic covering , one of the largest floor mosaics in the world, with more than five million distinctive pieces of stone from Palestine, was unveiled in October 2021. This floor mosaic is one of the largest that has survived from the ancient world. The most famous mosaic at the site is the "Tree of Life" mosaic in the diwan, or the private audience room, located in the northwestern corner of the main bathing hall. The pavement mosaic depicts a fruiting tree with two unknowing gazelles on the left side and a lion attacking another gazelle on the right side. It is a popular design throughout Islamic history in places like Northern Syria and Transjordan, and has been a popular topic of conversation as there are numerous theories related to its meaning. One idea is that the mosaic represents the peace that the caliph brought with his military prowess. Another idea stems from the border of the mosaic, which resembles the tassels of a curtain or drape. During the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid periods, court accounts recall that the caliphs sat behind curtains from where they appeared at specified moments in various rituals. The tassels that border the "Tree of Life" mosaic may suggest that the scene of the lion and gazelles should be understood through a lens of intimacy. All of the mosaics found at Hisham's Palace are of very high quality and feature a wide variety of colors and figural motifs. Carved stucco The carved stucco found at the site is also of exceptional quality. Of particular note is the statue depicting a male figure with a sword, often presumed to be the caliph, which stood in a niche above the entrance to the bath hall. Additional male and female figures carved in stucco, some semi-nude, adorn the bath complex. Geometric and vegetal patterns are also quite common. While Hamilton described the carvings at Hisham's Palace as amateurish and chaotic, many subsequent art historians have noted similarities with Iranian themes. Hana Taragan has argued that the artistic themes seen at the site are Levantine examples of an Islamic visual language of power that coalesced from Sasanian influences in Iraq. Priscilla Soucek has also drawn attention to the site's representation of the Islamic myth of Solomon. Photo gallery File:Rockefeller Museum P1120446 (7138881721).jpg|Decorations (mainly stucco), Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem File:PikiWiki Israel 66624 at the rockefeller museum in jerusalem.jpg|Male figure with a sword, often presumed to be the caliph File:Hisham's Palace (Khirbat al Mafjar) remains at the Rockefeller Museum IMG 7191.JPG|Carved stucco example File:Hisham's Palace (Khirbat al Mafjar) remains at the Rockefeller Museum IMG 7182.JPG|Semi-nude female figure File:Hisham's Palace (Khirbat al Mafjar) remains at the Rockefeller Museum IMG 7188.JPG|Panel ==Conservation==

According to the Global Heritage Fund (GHF), the rapid urban development of Jericho, as well as expansion of agricultural activity in the area, are limiting archaeologists' access to the site, much of which remain unexplored. Conservation efforts aimed at protecting important structures have been hindered by lack of resources. In a 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, GHF identified Hisham's Palace as one of 12 worldwide heritage sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction. Hamdan Taha of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has published reports concerning the preservation of this and other sites in the Jericho region. In 2020, it was added to the tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Palestine. In 2021, the restoration of the bath complex's 835-square-meter mosaic floor was completed, at a cost of 12 million USD and with Japanese funding, with a dome-shaped shelter protecting the mosaics, which was designed and executed by a Japanese architecture office. The mosaics can be viewed from walkways suspended over the floor. ==Museum==

The Hisham's Palace Museum is located within the grounds of the Hisham's Palace archaeological site. The museum was established in 2000. It displays relics and examples of pottery from the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, discovered within the Umayyad palace complex. ==Tourism==

Hisham's Palace is one of the most important Islamic monuments in Palestine, and is a major attraction for both visitors and Palestinians. In 2010, according to figures collected by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the site received 43,455 visitors. The site is a common field trip destination for Palestinian schoolchildren. Foreign visitors who enter Palestine through the nearby Allenby Bridge often make Hisham's Palace their first stop. The site has been visited by foreign dignitaries, and was the set for a production of Shakespeare's Richard II in 2012. Since 2021, the mosaic floor of the bath complex has been opened to the public after the completion of restoration and preservation work and the building of a shelter provided with walkways placed above the floor. ==See also==