Christoph Konrad: Resafa-Ruṣāfat Hišām. Die Quṣūr (FP 106 und FP 220) in der Residenz des Kalifen Hišām b. ʿAbd al-Malik. Architektur und Baudekor – Ausgrabung, bauhistorische Analyse, archäologisch-kunsthistorische Einordnung

The tenth Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn ʿAbd al-Malik (105-125/724-743) decided to take his residence in Resafa-Sergiupolis persumably in the thrid year of his reign. There he spent all the 19 years of his rule, which ‘…marks the final period of prosperity and splendour of the Umayyad caliphate’ (Gabrieli, EI2 sv. Hisham). Resafa was a Late Antique city of pilgrimage, 25 km south of the river Euphrates.

In correlation to his founder, the new residence is named in the Arabic sources Rusafat Hisham. In an area of about one sq. km many small and a view bigger and more important buildings (qusur) have been erected as well as building structures aiming to collect and use the surface water of the rain falls, which occur in the arid area just in winter times. The project is dealing with two of the more important buildings in the residence of the caliph Hisham. These buildings could be studied during a research and excavation project of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) under the directorate of D. Sack in the last years. The buildings show a later stage of development of the Umayyad qasr. The living rooms are no longer orientated to the main courtyard of the building but to different side courtyards. This may be caused by a change of social behaviour. The situation of one of the qusur above a wadi, its rich decoration with stucco and wall paintings and a pleasure garden in the back of the main hall already shows the most important elements of the Islamic palace buildings of later times.

The PhD-project will bring profound knowledge about the main buildings in this Early Islamic ‘Central Place’.