- Introduction ; c· T (;,/ ;"',J 7:1 ... k< -./-:r Arche%gie is/amique, 3, 1992 The Palace at Istabulat, Samarra' • • by Alastair Northedge (<< the Stables ») is one of the largest and most impressive designed complexes at Samarni', located on the west bank of the Tigris at the south end of the city area about 12.5 km south of the modern city (fig. 1 and 2). The site consists of a vast enclosure in the form of a double rectangle, totalling 2 241 m in length, and includes a palace and residen- tial settlement. In a sense the regular orthogonallayout, and hierarchy of building types, illustrates the idea of planning in the Samarran complexes taken to its furthest extreme. Nevertheless, in spite of its interest for architectural planning in the Abbasid period, it has never been properly published. No doubt, as only one of many palace complexes at Samarra', the interest it would have created elsewhere has been somewhat muted, but it is also true that as there is no vertical elevation to record - all the fired brick has been robbed out - it was of less interest to past generations of scholars and archaeologists. History of research lies on the line of the main later medieval and modern 61