Bahrain attractions
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The Barbar Temple complex consists of three successive temples built
over five stages. The first temple (Temple I), located on a low mound
sloping down towards a depression in the southwest where a fresh water
spring gushed, was built around 2100 BC. It featured a double stepped
platform, an upper trapezoidal platform and a lower oval one, and two
wing-structures; a well chamber to the west and an enclosure to the east.
The temple was demolished after almost one century of use and was replaced
by a larger structure (Temple II) farther north-east. |
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The commercial activity of the warehouse brought back the population
to the site of Qal'at al-Bahrain. And it remained there after the Mongol
governors abandoned the warehouse, at the end of the 13th cent. A.D.,
which brought about the weakening, if not the end, of maritime trade.
The ruin of the building itself, eaten away by the sea, became irremediable.
A suq, a hammam, a mosque and a cemetery have been uncovered from the
village which had developed over a large portion of the site. The length
of the occupation is demonstrated by the restoration of the suq and the
superposing of the levels of burials in the cemetery. But in the course
of the 15th cent. A.D. a new fortress was erected on the site and its
successive enlargements completely covered or destroyed the village.
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Barbar
temple
Qal'at
al-Bahrain