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Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk

قصر هرقل (شمس الملوك)

Damascus

The palace on Damascus's northern Height ascribed to Heraclius, known in al-Umari's day as Qasr Shams al-Muluk; only the jawsaq and bath survived — the jawsaq turned into a khanqah for the poor — yet it still lodged kings and pleasured the townsfolk above the Barada river, and Sultan Salah al-Din once stayed there 1.

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Region
Levant & Iraq
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In space

Damascus

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Overview

A palace in the upper northern district of Damascus, attributed to Heraclius. In the time of Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari it was known as the Palace of the Sun of Kings. 1

Its condition in al-Umari's time

Only the castle and the bath remained. The castle had become a hospice for the poor. 1

It was still a residence for kings and a pleasure ground for the people of the city, because it overlooks the river Barada and the valley. Sultan Salah al-Din stayed in it. 1

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Located in
Damascus

People and things also explored

the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)· The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus· استيلاء العادل على دمشق· موقعة مرج راهط· بناء جامع دمشق· سقوط دمشق بيد أتسز· The Conquest of Damascus· al-Aziz's siege of Damascus and the partition settlement (590 AH)

Sources

  1. Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar — al-Umari (1924 printing), p. 250
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/qasr-shams-al-muluk/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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Objects

Manuscripts, art, architecture and relics from collections worldwide. Related

the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)

The mosque raised inside the cave of Mount Qasyun by Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Mu'allim beginning in 370, after a dream in which Jibril bade him build a mosque where God's name would be remembered — he called it Jibril's Cave; a broad prayer-hall floored in white marble, its columns all marble, never empty of the pious at remembrance.