Jordan · 8th century
Mshatta, also known as Qasr al-Mushatta (Arabic: قصر المشتى, romanized: Qasr al-Mshatta, lit. 'Winter Palace'), is the ruin of an Umayyad winter palace, probably commissioned by Caliph Al-Walid II during his brief reign (743-744). The ruins are located approximately 30 km south of Amman, Jordan, north of Queen Alia International Airport, and are part of a string of castles, palaces and caravanserais known collectively in Jordan and the wider Southern Levant region as the Desert Castles (qasr, pl. qusur). Though much of the ruins can still be found in situ, the most striking feature of the palace, its facade, has been removed and is on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The complex was never completed.
Text adapted from “Mshatta” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Qasr Mshatta ranks #1,463 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #9 of the 23 mapped in Jordan. Founded c. 744, it is older than 95% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 48 atlas entries founded in the 8th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,102 times in the last 60 days, more than 71% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Amman, 23 km away. It is one of the 106 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Levant. See how Jordan compares in the castle statistics.
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