Description
The castle is located on the right bank of the Euphrates, at a site where two islands allowed the construction of a pontoon bridge which carried a trade route from Aleppo to Harran over the Euphrates. Qal'at Najm is a castle of the truncated cone type, similar to the Citadel of Aleppo and those of Hama and Homs. It lies on a mound whose slopes were covered with an ashlar glacis, remains of which are still visible at Qal'at Najm. Also like the Citadel of Aleppo, its entrance is characterized by a ramp and a massive gate with four bends. At least three, and possibly a fourth, inscription dating to Az-Zahir's reign have been found at Qal'at Najm. Inside Qal'at Najm is a palace-bath complex, consisting of four wings opening to a central courtyard with a fountain. The castle also housed a mosque with an exterior double arcade looking out over the Euphrates. This architectural feature is very rare in mosques; another example can be seen in a mosque in the Alhambra in Spain. The town that lay at the foot of the castle, and that is mentioned in historical texts, has disappeared.
Read more about this topic: Qal'at Najm
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)