Palace of the Golden Gate

The Palace of the Golden Gate (Arabic: قصر باب الذهب, romanized: Qasr Bāb al-Dhahab) or Palace of the Green Dome (Arabic: قصر القبة الخضراء, romanized: Qasr al-Qubbat al-Khaḍrāʾ) was the official caliphal residence in Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate.

[1] Apart from the mosque, no other buildings were allowed to be built close to the palace, which was thus surrounded by a wide open space; only on the northwest, towards the Gate of Syria, two buildings were constructed next to the palace wall: a barracks for the caliph's horse guard, and a two-part gallery, originally intended as an audience hall for the sahib al-shurta (police chief) and the captain of the horse guard respectively, but later came to be used as a public prayer space.

[5] Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) is said to have particularly preferred Khuld over the older palace, but his son al-Amin (r. 809–813) restored it as his residence, added a new wing to it, as well as a large square (maydan).

[4][6] The palace remained intact, although part of the structure was torn down to facilitate the expansion of the nearby Great Mosque under al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902).

The landmark Green Dome remained standing until the night of 9 March 941 (7/8 Jumada II 329 AH), when heavy rainfalls, and possibly a thunderbolt strike, led to its collapse.