Widely regarded of as the most famous and best-preserved Umayyad castle of them all, Amra Castle or Qusayr Amra is another result of Caliph Walid’s grand visions. Today the castle has been granted Unesco World Heritage status and stands as one of the earliest examples of Islamic architecture from the outside.
However, it is the inside of the building, with its risqué 8th-century frescoes of naked women, wine drenched festivities, hunting parties and zodiac symbols that have made this castle so famous. Non Islamic in their depictions, this decoration insinuates that the castle had additional influences.
Once part of a much larger caravanserai complex, the castle would have been surrounded by bath houses and a hunting lodge, and today the complex also houses a visitor’s centre.
