Uchaidir

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The palace of Uchaidir

The castle or palace of Uchaidir (AD 775; Arabic حصن الأخيضر, DMG Ḥiṣn al-Uḫaiḍir ) around 120 kilometers southwest of Baghdad in the province of Karbala was a country palace of the Umayyad caliphs . In sources and publications the name is also listed with Ukhaidir, Ukhaidher, Ukhayder and Ukhaydir .

Appearance

Its tripartite division reflects the structure common in many nomad camps: In the middle there is a large court of honor at the head of which there are the ruler's audience hall and private apartments. On the two lateral thirds are the "houses" of the entourage grouped around small inner courtyards. The monumental, 17 m high facade is structured by 48 semicircular towers and double arches in between.

Excavations

During her travels in March 1909, the British historian and archaeologist Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868–1926) came across a huge ruin made of stone and wood, which at that time had not been scientifically described by any archaeologist. The locals called this place “Uchaidir” and she worked for days carefully measuring the sixth century castle, which, years later, she described as the finest example of Sassanid art. The current appearance of the castle goes back to restorations carried out over the last few decades.

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.burgdaten.de/castle.php?country_id=22&castle_id=84
  2. Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 20, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk
  3. ^ Norbert Stanek: Iraq. Land between tradition and progress Vienna, around 1990, p. 138ff

Web links

Coordinates: 32 ° 26 ′ 26 ″  N , 43 ° 36 ′ 8 ″  E