[29 May 2004] According to the tales on Ghamdan Palace, Al-Hamdani wrote in one of Al-Iklil's
volumes that its length the equaled the width, and the former did not
exceed the later. This means it was square-shaped it was built of seven
floors, elevating one over the other within every forty yards of each
floor
Within its four sides, it had four different faces: one built by
white-color stones, another with black, the third with green and the last
with red.
This was the coloring told to Al-Hamdani by one eye-witness named Amru
Al-Hadrami. At the top there was one room the ceiling of which coated
by one sheet of eight pieces of marbles. This is not unusual as ancient
Yemen's builders to use not only ceramic tiles but also precious stones
and quartz, together with the gypsum powder, basalt and other plastering
compounds in their art of architecture. Even the names of certain palaces
located west of Sana'a are of relative references to their colors. E.g.
the white Palace and Black Palace. Again here it is familiar to find famous
palaces elsewhere were designed with colored tiles e.g. the pilgrim shine
"Zaradesht" in Iran. Nevertheless, the description of the room on the
roof surface of Ghamdan Palace can be found in Al-Hamdani's two volumes
kept today with the Pripeeton University and British Museum.