Homs
Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi is an Umayyad desert palace built in 110 AH (728–729) by the caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in the open steppe north-east of Palmyra.…
Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi is an Umayyad desert palace built in 110 AH (728–729) by the caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in the open steppe north-east of Palmyra. It has two great walled enclosures, a smaller palace and a larger walled town with a mosque, and it served as a military post, hunting lodge and estate on the route across the desert. It is the sister of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, built a year earlier, and one of the best-known Umayyad desert castles. Its walls and round towers still stand in the remote steppe.