Royal Palace of Mari

The Palace of Zimri- Lim is a monumental building in Old Babylonian Mari, which was destroyed during the conquest by Hammurabi Maris in the middle of the 18th century BC. These are just the most recent construction of a building that was previously I of Shamshi -Adad and his son Jasmach - Addu and used in front of other members of the Lim Dynasty.

The palace was known mainly for its size and its good state of preservation, but also for its famous finds, such as the Tontafelarchiven, the Water Gushing Goddess and the murals on the Palm Court. The palace is divided into several functional areas, which in turn are strictly separated from each other and often only through long corridors accessible. Switching is a central courtyard, to which was joined Admininstrations and storage rooms. The residence of the king and the harem are located in the region of a second court. However, a detailed functional analysis of the various areas of the palace is not possible because their inventory was distributed at the devastation in the context of the conquest by Hammurabi over the entire palace.

In the southeast corner of the palace was a temple which was, however profaned before the destruction of the palace. The complex consisted of several in the manner of a hurdle house rooms clustered around a courtyard, the facade of the cella was provided with the typical temple in Mesopotamia pillar Niche decor.