The
Omayyad City of Anjar:
The town Anjar takes its name from the
Arabic term "Ayn
Al-Jaar," or "water from the rock," and is known for the streams that
flow
from the nearby mountains. It is a unique city in several ways. Anjar
is the only set of Omayyad ruins in Lebanon, and there were no
artifacts
at Anjaar of the many other societies that inhabited the Bekka Valley
before
them. The city was built by the Caliph Malik as a trading city,
at
the intersection of the north-south and east-west trade routes. It is
the
only non-coastal trading city in the country, and it flourished for
only
20-30 years before the Abbasids overran the city and it fell into
disuse.
While built from scratch by the Omayaads, it used classic Roman design,
a square walled city with four towers and gates. Anjaar is bisected
horizontally
and vertically by two main streets, the Cardo Maximus and the Documanus
Maximus. At its peak, it housed more than 600 shops, Roman-style baths,
two palaces and a mosque. Below is a VR panorama of Anjaar that
contains
links to the architecturally significant aspects of the ruins. A more
detailed
explanation of the ruins can be found beneath the panorama.
Virtual
Tour of Anjar Omyaad Ruins
For iOS devices:
scan QR code with your device's camera app, tap on the prompt to open
Safari. Select "Allow Device Motion" and the next prompt, "Allow Access
to Motion Orientation." Turn the device to landscape mode and a split
screen will appear. When the screen turns white, swipe up for
fullscreen mode, and place in headset. Here is a video of
how to do this--it is simpler than it sounds! [The video opens in a new
window--close when done to return to this page]
Here is an (earlier) text-based review of the same tour:
Our virtual tour of Anjar begins at the
north gate, the
entrance to the ruins. Walking down the Cardo Maximus, the arcade that
served as the entrance to the baths
is to your left, while on the right are the ruins of building sand storehouses
that served the palace. Continuing down the Cardo Maximus about 200
meters,
you reach the center of the city, the crossroads where the Cardo
Maximus
intersects the Documanus Maximus. To the left is the "Small Palace," essentially a harem where the
Caliph's wives lived.
The Documanus Maximus (which runs left and right from this center
point)
was the commercial heart of the city, containing more than 600
individual shops. If you continue north on the Cardo Maximus,
to the left are the famous arcades of the Omayyad
Palace, the best preserved of the Anjar ruins, and a signature
image
of this spot. To the left of the Cardo Maximus are the city's residential
quarters. The panorama then sweeps northward. Just to the left of
the
cross-roads is a Roman-style tetrapylon
(one
of the pillars is missing) which (along with the palace arcade) has
come
to symbolize Anjar in the same manner as the columns of Jupiter
symbolize
Baalbeck. In the far end of this north west quadrant (bringing you back
to the north gate entrance) are the baths.