Hasa Fortress
Hasa, Jordan
The bridge dates to Hegira 1140 / AD 1730s; the fortress to the time of Sultan Mustafa II (AH 1170–87 / AD 1757–74)
Ottoman
Sultan Mustafa II (AH 1170–87 / AD 1757–74); Aydınlı Abdullah Pasha, Governor of Damascus (r. AH 1142–5 / AD 1730–3).
An important station on the pilgrimage route in southern Jordan, Hasa lies about 150 km south of Amman, west of the Hijaz railway. The main components of the site are: a square fortress (24 m x 24 m); a water reservoir (23 m x 23 m); a bridge across Wadi al-Hasa and a section of paved road.
The fortress was built of limestone and basalt. The maximum surviving height is about 10 m. The perimeter walls are provided with small undecorated slit windows at two levels. Machicolations (projecting windows, measuring 2.5 m x 1.5 m) are preserved on the west, south and east walls. The entrance, which has a scroll decoration above it, was placed in the middle of the northern wall; it consists of a shallow arched porch and a vaulted passageway. The gate complex leads to a square courtyard measuring 12.5 m x 12.5 m with a rectangular structure at the centre to shelter a 20-m deep well.
On the ground floor nine rooms were organised around a courtyard. Four of the rooms were iwans with slightly pointed vaults. The remaining five were barrel-vaulted rooms with the one adjacent to the south wall of the fortress being the longest (22 m x 4 m).
Two staircases leading up to the first floor were placed on the sides of the entrance of the south room. On the first floor the rooms are preserved only along the southern wall of the fortress. This side is occupied by seven rooms with barrel-vaulted roofs. The room in the centre was probably the mosque.
Part of the second floor above the mosque is preserved but no complete structure can be identified.
Hasa, about 150 km south of Amman, is an important station on the pilgrimage route. The main components of the site are: a fortress from the time of Sultan Mustafa II (AH 1170–87 / AD 1757–74); a reservoir; a bridge built by Aydinli Abdullah Pasha, Governor of Damascus (r. AH 1142–5 / AD 1730–3); and a paved road. The fortress perimeter walls, built of limestone and basalt, have slit windows at two levels; projecting windows are preserved on three walls. The entrance has a scroll decoration above. It leads to a courtyard with a rectangular structure at the centre to shelter a 20-m deep well.
Mehmed Edib (1926) attributes the bridge at al-Hasa to Aydinli Abdullah Pasha the governor of Damascus (r. 1142–5 / 1730–3), while archaeologists Jaussen and Savignac (1909) on the basis of an Arabic verse inscription, suggest that the fortress and the bridge were built by Sultan Mustafa II (1170–87 / 1757–74).
الكردي.حنان، القلاع الأثرية في الأردن، عمان، 1984، ص 34–36.
Burckhardt, J. L., Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, London, 1882, pp.400–401; 658.
Doughty, C. M., Travels in Arabian Deserts, London, 1926.
Edib, M., Manasik al-Hajj, Istanbul, 1779.
Jaussen, A., Savignac, R. P., Mission Archéologique en Arabie, Paris, 1909, pp.31–2.
Musil, A., The Northern Hegaz, New York, 1926.
Peterson, A., Early Ottoman Forts on the Hajj Route in Jordan, unpublished MA thesis, University of Oxford, 1986, pp.50–63.
Peterson, A., “Early Ottoman Forts on Darb al-Hajj”, Levant, Vol. XXI, 1989, pp.97–117.
Mohammad Najjar "Hasa Fortress" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;26;en
Prepared by: Mohammad NajjarMohammad Najjar
Mohammad Najjar is an archaeologist and has been Director of Excavations and Surveys at the Department of Antiquities of Jordan since 1988. He studied archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow from where he holds his Ph.D. He was affiliated to the Department of Antiquities of Jordan in 1982 as Curator of Jordan Archaeological Museum. He was the Technical Director of Cultural Resources Management (sites development) at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities between 1994 and 1997. He is the author of numerous publications on the archaeology of Jordan.
Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez
Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.
True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.
MWNF Working Number: JO 26
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