Better Homes and Gardens
About the exhibition
During the reign of the Abbasid califs Raqqa became the capital between 796 and 809: The court moved from Baghdad to Northern Syria, from the Tigris to the Euphrates. The empire was the largest of its time and covered an area from the Mediterranean Sea to India and Raqqa became its centre for almost 13 years.
To accommodate the enormous court a large area of more than 10 hectares was developed for the palaces, service buildings, stables, canals and all other infrastructure. All this had to be executed in a very short span of time, so even the palaces were built from mudbrick. But the coarse wall were covered with white and sometimes painted stucco and decorated with lively friezes, carved out of the still soft plaster.
These friezes accentuated the doors in the official quarters with their endless tendrils of vine, grapes, leaves and flowers with borders of varied geometric designs. In many private, but also in official rooms there were prayer-niches (Mihrāb) of stucco facing south. There the court-inhabitants could perform their prayers privately or in company.
Prayer niches in Palace B; Syrian excavations 1950-52
Raqqa, Stucco friezes from the Abbasid palaces, 8th/9th century. White plaster, carved and cut. Vines with heavy grapes and vine leaves between simple geometric bands.
Raqqa, Abbasid palaces, 8th/9th century. White plaster, carved and cut. Narrow friezes with tendrils with large leaves between simple geometric bands.
Raqqa, Abbasid palaces, 8th/9th century. White plaster, carved and cut. Broad friezes showing plants with large double leaves between simple geometric bands.
Raqqa, Western Palace, 8th/9th century. White plaster, carved and cut. Large tripartite prayer niche with different leaves between geometric bands.