Situated 85 km to the east of Amman, is the little palace (Qusayr) of Amra, noted for its extensive fresco paintings which cover virtually all the interior surfaces. The paintings include themes such as hunting, dancing, and musicians, bathing scenes, cupids, and personifications of history, philosophy and poetry.
These unique paintings prompted UNESCO to include Qusayr Amra in its World Heritage list. The plan of the building consists of 3 main elements:
A rectangular audience-hall with a throne alcove in the middle of the south side.
A bath complex which comprises 3 rooms corresponding to the frigidarium, tepidarium and calidarium, i.e. the cold, warm and hot rooms respectively.
The hydraulic structures which include an elevated water-tank, a masonry-lined deep well, and the apparatus for drawing water from the well into the water-tank.
Two feeder-pipes drained water from the elevated tank to the shallow pool or fountain in the audience-hall into a plastered tank, which stood above the furnace.
It should be noted that Qusayr Amra was not residential in character, nor was it intended to be occupied over an extended period of time.
