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Secondary sourceArtifact763

Palace of the Golden Gate

763

Al-Mansur's official palace at the centre of the Round City of Baghdad, topped by a famous green dome.

Al-Mansur commissioned this palace as his residence at the centre of Baghdad, the city he founded.

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Historical map titled 'The Round City in the Time of Mansur' showing a circular walled city with concentric walls, radial streets, numbered buildings including the Mosque and Palace, the Tigris river to the east, and Harbiyah district outside. A second inset plan shows wall and gate details.
Map reconstruction of the Round City of Baghdad in the time of Caliph al-Mansur, showing the Palace of the Golden Gate at its centre.

About this source

What it is

This was the official caliphal residence in Baghdad, built at the centre of the Round City founded by the caliph al-Mansur. Completed around 763, it featured a huge green dome topped with the figure of a horseman and a square audience chamber beneath it.

Why it matters

The palace placed al-Mansur literally at the centre of his new capital, surrounded by open space, administrative offices and the great mosque, expressing his role as the axis of the empire. Later caliphs used it less, preferring other palaces, until it was damaged during a siege and its dome eventually collapsed; the walls stood until the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258.

Look closer

  • Why might a ruler want his palace to sit at the exact centre of a round, walled city?
  • What does the unusual shape of Baghdad tell us about how al-Mansur imagined his power?
  • Why did later rulers prefer other palaces, and what does that suggest about this building's purpose?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Caliph al-Mansur on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Miniature painting from a manuscript page with Persian text above. A king seated on a golden throne with a green-sleeved robe is surrounded by attendants and craftsmen working at forges, anvils, and a furnace. A bearded man sits in a cage on the right, and a seated scribe writes at the lower left under a tree.Book

Secondary source

History of the Prophets and Kings

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari · completed 915 AD

Historical map titled Baghdad between 150 and 300 A.H., showing the circular walled city at center labeled The Round City, with rivers, canals, districts such as Katrabbul, Harbiyah, Nahr Buk, Kalwadha, and Karkh, and a scale in English miles.Artifact

Secondary source

Round City of Baghdad

762–766

Scanned page of an Arabic manuscript printed in dense right-to-left columns of text, with the page number 585 at top, a handwritten marginal note on the left side, and a section heading in the lower half.Book

Secondary source

Genealogies of the Nobles

Al-Baladhuri

Close-up of a parchment page of a Syriac manuscript with dense brown-ink Syriac script in several lines, with red-ink headings at the top and bottom. A diagonal streak of red-brown ink strokes marks a comet-like shape in the lower middle of the page. The page is a Syriac chronicle folio.Book

Primary source

Zuqnin Chronicle

Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Maḥrē · completed c. 775

Photo of a hardcover book standing on a wooden table against a dark background. The cream cover has Arabic calligraphic title text in red, an illustration of an open book, stacked books, and a domed church, plus Arabic author and editor credits.Book

Secondary source

History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria

Mawhub ibn Mansur ibn Mufarrij · 1222

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