Fitur, 18-22 January 2023, at Palestine Stand number 4E20 you can virtually explore the project of unveiling the magnificent mosaic of Hisham’s Palacein Jericho and covering it with a huge innovative dome shelter. The largest cultural heritage preservation project in Palestine
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GMF news - World Trade Fair Guide. Turin, January 9, 2022 – On the 22nd of October 2021, Palestine Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities has launched one of the biggest cultural heritage preservation projects of unveiling the magnificent mosaic of Hisham’s Palace and covering it with a huge innovative dome shelter. The project was funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Hisham Palace is one of the Must-To-Visit places in Palestine, the Holy Land.
Hisham’s Palace is located on the northern bank of Wadi Nueima in the Jordan valley, approximately 2 km north of Jericho. It is identified with the ruins of Khirbet Al-Mafjar. The site was built by Caliph Hisham bin Abd el-Maleik 724 to 743 AD, and later decorated by his heir el-Walid ll between 743 and 744 AD. The site was not the official residence of the caliph but was used as a winter resort. The spectacular audience hall and bath was destroyed in a severe earthquake in 749 AD, but other areas of the site, including the palace, continued until the tenth century.
The site, during the Umayyad period, was composed of a palace, an audience hall with a thermal bath, a mosque, a monumental fountain within a perimeter wall, two main gates and probably an elite residence. The first three principal buildings were arranged along the west side of a common forecourt, with a pool covered with pavilion in its centre. The palace was a two-story square building with round towers at the corners. The entrance to the palace was through a vaulted passage, lined with benches on both sides. It was planned around a central courtyard that was enclosed by four arcaded galleries. The arrangement of the rooms suggests that it was used for guests, servants, and storage. The focus of the palace opposite the entrance was the rosette or star window, found in the main court by the excavators. This star is now a famous symbol of Jericho.
The great audience hall is located north of the palace. The great treasure of this hall was a pavement of about 30 x 30m with 38 colourful mosaic carpets. The building once supported a series of vaults and domes. The vaulting system was of brick and rested on sixteen massive stone piers, in four rows. This building was decorated with carved stucco, stone reliefs and statues. Its upper parts had painted frescoes and a long pool was added along its southern side. The Caliph’s statue stood above the main entrance. The Caliph himself probably sat in the recess at the far end of the hall. The thermal bath was added to the north side. It began with an entrance called a Frigidarium. Then the bath complex included two warm rooms Tepidaria, two hot rooms with steam heating (caldaria), two furnaces, and a communal latrine. This kind of bath (hammam) was a typical community structure of Byzantine and early Islamic towns.
At the northern corner of the reception hall is the diwan, a small guest room, with an apsidal raised platform at the northernmost end of the chamber. The room had benches on both sides. The walls and dome were richly decorated with stucco panels and columns. The floor of the diwan was paved with fine mosaics, including the world famous scene of the tree of life.
At Palestine Stand number 4E20, you can virtually explore this magnificent site.
https://www.ifema.es/en/
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