Jericho - Hisham's Palace Khirbet el-Mafyar

Hisham's Palace (Khirbet el-Mafyar) lies 2km/1.25mi north of Elisha's Spring in Jericho, beyond a dry river-bed. It was built in 724 by Hisham, the 10th Omayyad Caliph and the last significant representative of the dynasty (724-743). The palace was left unfinished and was destroyed in an earthquake in 746. The site was covered over by sand and remained forgotten until British archaeologists located it in 1937 and excavated an area 160m/175yds by 130m/140yds. Numerous finds from the site, including the figural representations characteristic of early Islamic art, can be seen in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.

The palace is laid out on a square plan, with four ranges of buildings opening off an inner courtyard and no entrances on the outside. Immediately north is a large bath-house. The palace is entered through a spacious forecourt containing a square pool, originally covered by a domed roof, and a gatehouse leading into a square inner courtyard.