Al-Muwaqqar


Al-Muwaqqar is a district in the Amman Governorate of north-western Jordan. The village contains the scant ruins of an Umayyad palace, the Qasr Al Muwaqqar, one of the desert castles. Little remains of the palace today except several acanthus leaf capitals and gauge for a water reservoir. The district is the headquarters of the 3rd Armored Division and a police training center.
Most of the families which are staying in the region are from Bani Sakhr, like: Khraisha, al-Arabid, al-Jbour, al-Qudahh.

Archaeology: Qasr al-Muwaqqar

The village of contains the ruins of an Umayyad complex, the Qasr al-Muwaqqar, a qasr-type fortified palace also known as a desert castle. Almost nothing remains of the palace today except several acanthus-leaf capitals and a water level gauge for a palace cistern, inscribed with Kufic signs which indicate a maximum level of over thirty feet, very impressive for the arid climate of the area.

Two distinct ''qusur'', Muwaqqar and Mushash

Despite some name confusion, which combined the two names into one, the following are two distinct Umayyad sites which contain qasrs: al-Muwaqqar and Qasr al-Mushash. They lay 19.4 km apart on the historical caravan route between Amman and Azraq via Qusayr 'Amra, on which all these localities acted as way stations.