Jordan's Umayyad Qasr: variation of variant features

The Umayyad Palaces are the first example of civic muslim architecture. In the geographical area that includes Syria, Jordan and Palestine, sources report more than fifty examples of monuments. These monuments have similar typological and functional features. Know as "desert palaces", in Arabic, Qasr, these monuments testify of a typological system based on principles of rational organization of the space, geometric structure of the form, repetition of modular elements, frescoes and stucco decorations. They are an example of innovation, technical and functional, as they represent the synthesis of expressions and combinations of all architectural forms inherited from a pre-Islamic past. The Mediterranean influence is recognizable in the “Roman villa” layout style. Techniques and functional subdivision come from the Byzantine features. Ornamental and decorative art was adopted by Sassanid style. Qasr are one of the elements that compose larger settlement complexes, of which they are the residential built of the aristocratic power. The other elements are crushers, mills, granaries, dams, canals and elaborate irrigation systems, evidence of a flourishing agricultural activity. Other elements are baths and mosques index of the practice of the new religious cult, and in some cases sporadic residences subordinate. Each element structural, functional or formal is repeated in each monument; the different combination of elements constitutes the single variant. The architectural survey of Qasr Hallabat, Qasr Kharranah, Qasr Mushatta and Qasr Qatrana, compared to other examples in Syria and Jordan, compared with other palaces of Jordan and Syria shows that all monuments were designed and constructed by reference to accurate rules of layout and facade scheme. Along with a common type of plan: a square plan with a central courtyard surrounded by rooms; the exterior walls have circular or square corner towers.