Qusayr Amra

Qusayr ‘Amra, located 85 kilometers to the east of Amman, is a small residence discovered by the Czech traveler Alois Musil in 1898. It dates to the Umayyad period and for many years was thought to have been built during the reign of Caliph Walid I (A.D. 705-715). An inscription discovered in the spring of 2012, however, revealed that the building was commissioned by Walid Ibn Yazid sometime between A.D. 723 and 743 before his short reign ascaliph (A.D. 743-44).