Qasr Al-Hallabat: From Roman Fort to Umayyad Palace in Photos

On a low hill east of Zarqa, Qasr Al-Hallabat grew from a small Roman fort into a 6th-century palace and monastery and finally an Umayyad palace with mosaics, carved plaster and a mosque. This album starts at the fort walls, moves through the palace rooms and the Umayyad mosque, looks down at the mosaic floors, then closes in on the basalt blocks of a Greek imperial edict, carved stones and the cisterns that stored the winter rain.