Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi

Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi
قصر الحير الشرقي
Panoramic view of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi
Location within Syria
General information
LocationHoms Governorate, Syria
Coordinates35°04′26″N 39°04′16″E / 35.073889°N 39.071111°E / 35.073889; 39.071111
Technical details
Materialadobe
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Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi (Arabic: قصر الحير الشرقي, lit.'Eastern al-Hayr Palace or the "Eastern Castle"') is a castle (qasr) in the middle of the Syrian Desert. It was built by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 728-29 CE in an area rich in desert fauna. It was apparently used as a military and hunting outpost. The palace is the counterpart of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, a nearby castle palace built one year earlier. It is one of the so-called desert castles.