Balkuwara Palace Complex (Abbasid era)

 palace, archeological site

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The Balkuwara Palace was constructed between 849-859 AD on the east side of the Tigris River, six kilometers south of Samarra, by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil for Prince al Mu'tazz . Now in ruins, the palace was massive, including three courtyards, nine halls, residential suites, mosques, and quarters for infantrymen in a fortressed complex measuring approximately 1,250 meters per side and 15 meters in height. The palace occupied the southern half of a complex surrounded by private houses each containing sixteen rooms around a central courtyard. The northern part of the complex was composed of two central courts and accommodations for 12,000-man standing army, including a polo field, bazaars, baths, and small mosques.

Balkuwara would have been a magnificent experience from both its interior and exterior as this sizeable palace is composed on a strong linear axis with its most prominent section (the Throne Room) positioned on the highest elevated area of the site. A court and garden encompassed by a wall supported by pilasters stretches in front of the palace along the river.

Overlooking this area, the palace's façade features a triple arcade with the central arch rising over the two side ones. It is adorned with green glass and mother-of-pearl mosaic over a gold background. This entrance leads into a group of four public audience halls organized in a cross around a central, square chamber. This cruciform pattern is influenced from the region known today as eastern Iran. Square-shaped suites of eight rooms ordered around small courtyards extend between these halls.

Emanating from the Throne Rooms to the northeast on the central vertical axis are the Courts of Honor, a series of three courts each boasting monumental entrances. Standing at the main entrance of the compound this progression of gates commands attention to the axiality of the site design.

The predominant building material at the site is brick, baked and raw, with doors made of the finest lumber. Conventional for the times, vaulting was the established method for the ceilings. Decoration at the compound varies between stucco-work, frescoes, colored glass windows and niches sometimes, square, circular or quatrefoil. As a royal palace, Balkuwara represents a new building typology, previously unknown in Islamic building tradition.