by Taylor Luck, Jordan Times.

AMMAN — Restoration work on 1,300-year-old murals in Qusayr Amra have shed new light on early Islamic art as conservationists continue work to save one of the last surviving examples of Islamic visual paintings in the world.

The eighth-century fortress and bathhouse, located 85 kilometres northeast of Amman, represents one of the Kingdom’s three UNESCO World Heritage sites and the few examples of secular art left behind by the Umayyad era.

For the past 11 months, Italian and Jordanian experts have worked to restore frescos that offer a rare glimpse of daily life in the eighth century Islamic world, featuring hunting scenes, farming and femininity — figural depictions that were forbidden at the time due to fears of idol worship.

According to experts, the months of careful efforts to scale back decades of soot, dust and chemicals left behind by previous restoration efforts have shed new light on the composition — and even the origins — of now-infamous murals which have long divided scholars and art historians alike.

The revelations have come as part of a multiyear project by the Rome-based Institute for Conservation and Restoration (ICR), the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities to stabilise and restore the bathhouse’s frescoes, which have blackened due to years of erosion, flooding, graffiti and misguided conservation efforts in the early and mid-20th century.

“It is as if we are finally seeing the murals for the very first time,” said Giovanna de Palma of the ICR.

The restoration project uncovered vibrant colours and rare paints on the structure’s southern wall which experts believe is proof that the artisans who painted some of the most unique frescos in the history of Islamic art were likely of Byzantine or Greco-Roman origin, a sign of the wealth and discreetness of the Umayyad caliphs.

“As some of the depictions may have been considered taboo in Damascus, it is likely that the caliph commissioned artisans from outside to paint the murals,” said Gaetano Palumbo, WMF Middle East Programme director.

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Segments of frescos in Qusayr Amra before and after a restoration project designed to breathe new life into the 1,300-year-old paintings (Photos courtesy of the Institute for Conservation and Restoration)