Palace of Balkuwara, Samaria

Caliph al-Mustasim founded a new capital at Samara in 836. It was abandoned in 883, by which time it covered over 50km. Ettinghausen and Grabar describe it as 'a palace the size of a city' and state that 'the ancient Near Eastern tradition of the royal 'paradise' was adopted by the Abbasids and sung by their poets' [Ettinghausen, R., Grabar, O., The art and architecture of Islam: 650-1250 (Penguin:1987) p.20]. There is a series of courts on an axis with elaborate doorways lead from one court to another. There were large gardens in and around the palace with canals, fountains, hunting parks and race tracks. In essence, it is a Charbagh 'four-gardens' plan. The plan shows a rectangular space with crossing paths – but there is no evidence of  water channels.