Mission Archéologique en ARABIE III: Les châteaux arabes.

Description

Antoine Jaussen and Raphaël Savignac were French Dominican scholars whose early 20th-century expeditions to northern Arabia significantly contributed to the establishment of archaeological and epigraphic studies of the region. Working under the auspices of the École Biblique in Jerusalem, they combined rigorous fieldwork with detailed documentation, producing extensive photographic records, architectural surveys, and numerous transcriptions of ancient inscriptions. Their multi-volume Mission archéologique en Arabie (1909–1922) remains a landmark publication in the history of Middle Eastern archaeology, offering some of the earliest systematic studies of Nabataean sites and early Islamic monuments. The work continues to serve as a vital reference for historians, archaeologists, and art historians alike.

The atlas volume for Les châteaux arabes

Neatline is pleased to present the atlas from the third volume of Mission archéologique en Arabie (1922). This is devoted entirely to the famed Umayyad “desert castles” of northern Arabia (present‐day Jordan) and was published by Paul Geuthner of Paris in two parts: a text volume and the present atlas. The text volume (134 pages) contains 21 illustrations (mostly photographs), while the atlas volume comprises 58 loose plates. These plates contain detailed site and building plans, cross-sections and elevations, as well as photographic views of interiors, exteriors, and decorative elements, including fountains, columns, and carved motifs.

The atlas plates from Les châteaux arabes include the earliest published photographs of Qusayr ‘Amra, Qasr Tûba, and Qasr al-Kharana, sites previously known only from rough sketches (Saba Farès-Drappeau, Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée 89-90: 325-30). Of the three, the most famous is undoubtedly Qusayr ‘Amra: a small 8th‑century “pleasure palace” with a domed audience hall and an attached ceremonial bathhouse. Qusayr ‘Amra is an exceptionally well-preserved Umayyad desert castle, notable for the elaborate painted frescoes that decorate the walls and ceilings of the reception hall and hammam. Jaussen and Savignac’s plates capture these unique interior spaces long before later restorations and damages changed them considerably.

The atlas generally provides new measured plans alongside extensive pictorial documentation for these critical sites. The authors explain in the associated text volume that they found earlier descriptions of al-Kharana and Qasr Tûba to be faulty and unreliable, and thus have ventured to re-describe them in their entirety. The atlas plates remain a valuable archive for these monuments, which in many cases have suffered from later renovations or alterations.

Context is Everything

The French archaeological mission in Arabia

Mission archéologique en Arabie III was the culmination of a series of French scholarly expeditions organized by the Dominican scholars of the École Biblique in Jerusalem, and sponsored by the Société des Fouilles Archéologiques and the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO). The surveys were part of the École Biblique’s program to document antiquities in the Hijaz and Transjordan, which was an ambitious and pioneering endeavor in Middle Eastern archaeology at the time. Jaussen and Savignac conducted fieldwork in the Arabian Peninsula in 1907, 1909, and 1910, compiling some of the first systematic maps, site plans, and inscription indices from North Arabia. It was, in effect, the first truly archaeological survey of the region.

The first two volumes (1909 and 1914) reported on Mada’in Sālih (Hegra) and al-‘Ulā, focusing on Nabataean inscriptions and classical-period sites. A supplemental ethnographic appendix, published alongside Volume II, records the customs of the Bedouin observed during those trips. The third volume, originally intended for simultaneous publication, was delayed by World War I. When it was finally issued in 1922, it completed the series by documenting the early Islamic palaces (qusur) encountered by Jaussen and Savignac on their expeditions.

The importance of early documentation

The so-called Desert Castles (al-qusūr al-ʿarabiyya) are a network of palaces and fortresses built by the Umayyad caliphs in the late 7th and 8th centuries CE, primarily in eastern Jordan and southern Syria. They combine classical Roman, Byzantine, and Persian influences with early Islamic art. Their purposes varied significantly, with palaces like Qusayr ‘Amra serving mostly representational functions, Qasr al-Kharana functioning more as a caliphal hunting lodge in the desert, and forts like Qasr Hallabat serving more defensive purposes. After the Umayyad dynasty was toppled in 750 CE, most qusūr were abandoned and fell into ruin. In many cases, only fragments of walls, mosaics, or inscriptions survive today. Early 20th-century records are consequently critical. Jaussen and Savignac’s 1922 publication preserves details that might otherwise have been lost. It is widely acknowledged that Qusayr ‘Amra’s interior frescoes of hunting scenes, musicians, and zodiac motifs are among the finest examples of early Islamic “secular” art. The plates of the 1922 volume capture these decorations decades before modern conservation began.

Concluding remarks

Mission archéologique en Arabie III represents the final installment of a groundbreaking French scholarly mission, dedicated to the desert architecture of the first Islamic dynasty. The five-volume corpus to which it belongs was an unprecedented accomplishment at the time. Few Western scholars had explored these remote landscapes since Charles Doughty (1876) or Alois Musil (1901–07). By using modern photography and careful surveying techniques, Jaussen and Savignac not only brought these remote places to European audiences but also set new scientific standards for the documentation of cultural heritage.

The atlas volume of Les châteaux arabes provides an irreplaceable visual baseline for anyone interested in how early Muslim elites shaped and used the desert.