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Qasr al-Azraq

Qasr al-Azraq

Photo: Steffen Sledz (Zone42) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Azraq, Jordan
Client / Owner
—
Year
Completed 1237
Access
Public
Style
—

Qasr al-Azraq is a basalt fort in the Azraq oasis in Jordan, about 62 miles (100 km) east of Amman. The article names no architect or style. The infobox says Romans built it in the early 4th century, but the text says they built the first stone structure around 200 CE. The Ayyubid emir Izz ad-Din Aybak redesigned and fortified it in 1237.

A square plan has oblong corner towers, walls 262 feet (80 m) long and a small mosque in the courtyard that may date to Umayyad times. The main gate is a single hinged granite slab. T. E. Lawrence used it in the winter of 1917.

The Ottomans garrisoned it in the 16th century. It is partially ruined and owned by Jordan's Ministry of Antiquities, and it is open to the public except sections closed while rock is shored up. Lawrence's accounts mention six towers, not four.

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