UNESCO's Admittance of Palestine Good News for Ancient Palace Complex
Hisham's Palace, one of Umayyad-period Palestine's most endangered and astonishing archaeological treasures, may get a boost with Palestine's new status in the U.N. organization.
With UNESCO's recent granting of full membership status to Palestine, Palestinians will now enjoy the same right as those of other nations to nominate heritage sites for inclusion on the much-coveted World Heritage list. Long in coming, the new status now opens the prospect that at least some of Palestine's rich archaeological treasures will get the recognition they need for possible consideration and release of new resources directed to their preservation, protection and site development. Among them are such sites as the Dead Sea, Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the ancient sea port in Gaza, biblical sites near Jerusalem and Hebron, and some sites in the West Bank.
Not the least of these, however, are the impressive remains of the 8th century CE Umayyad winter palace complex at Khirbat al-Mafjar, otherwise known as Hisham's Palace. Just 5 km north of Jericho in the West Bank, the complex was built in 743–744 CE by Al-Walid ibn Yazid, the caliphate who ruled the Umayyad empire from 743 to 744 CE after the death of his predecessor Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743 CE. The complex included a palace, courtyard, bathhouse, mosque, a fountain courtyard, and an enclosure containing exquisite mosaics, decorations, plants, and animals. The central palace alone featured a monumental entrance and rooms at two levels surrounding a porticoed courtyard. The site also featured an elaborate system of underground pipes designed to provide hot water for the complex (part of which still exists today), and a beautifully rendered mosaic depicting a large tree with a lion and three deer, located in the bathhouse.
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Mosaic in the audience room of the bathhouse. Wikimedia Commons
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Recent excavations have uncovered other structures, such as storerooms and workshops, suggesting that the complex served functions beyond those that were palatial in nature.
Despite its significance, however, the site is threatened with rapid urban development associated with nearby Jericho and expanding agricultural activity, among other factors, undermining future archaeologists’ ability to uncover more of the complex's unexplored remains. The site has been identified in a 2010 Global Heritage Fund report, Saving Our Vanishing Heritage as one of 12 worldwide heritage sites most endangered with irreparable loss and destruction.
"Insufficient management is also a problem," reports the GHF, "including an extensive water management network that has been greatly damaged by both natural causes and invasive development, while important structures such as walls and bridges have been left to collapse."[1]
The site is now being investigated by GHF in anticipation of a possible multi-year project for monument conservation, community development, and training. It is hoped that results of the effort will arrest the ongoing elements that threaten its disappearance as a cultural treasure while at the same time bring much-needed economic development for the stakeholder palestinian population of the area. And Palestine's admittance to UNESCO may be an important catalyst in that effort.
Reports the GHF:
"Following many years of political instability and conflict, this important site is at a crossroads, urgently needing re-interpretation, monument conservation and improved maintenance, as well as local staff training. Palestine’s admittance into UNESCO is an encouraging sign for Khirbat al Mafjar and other sites across the region, as international support and increased political stability will go a long way toward ensuring sustainable preservation and increased tourism for one of the most sacred places on earth."[1]
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[1] UNESCO Grants Membership to Palestine, Heritage on the Wire, November 1, 2011.
Cover Photo, Top Left: A prime example of the architectural and decorative sophistication of Khirbat al-Mafjar. Courtesy Abraham, Wikimedia Commons
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