The best preserved and most intriguing ruins lie behind the museum. Vaulted chambers tower 10m over a spacious courtyard where elaborate floral decorations can still be seen in the stonework. The 7th-century structure once supported a huge stone dome and was used as a mosque, audience hall, and living accommodation. Below the Roman walls directly to the north, an open pit leads into the underground passageway that connected the fortified city to a hidden water supply. With a flashlight and fancy footwork you can enter the cavernous rock-hewn cistern by this route. The more conventional approach is from the gate on the street below.

The Citadel was the heart of ancient Amman; today the pulse emanates from downtown, in and around Al-Husseini Mosque. The Ottoman-style structure was built in 1924 on the site of an ancient mosque, probably also the site of the Old Cathedral of Philadelphia. The area around the mosque is full of second-hand shoe shops. At the center of the triangle formed by the citadel, Al-Husseini Mosque, and the post office is Amman’s glittering gold market, featuring rows upon rows of gold jewelry. One or two shops vend antique Bedouin silver jewelry. Patience and an instinct for bargaining are all that is necessary to unearth hidden treasures. (Open Sat.-Thurs. 9am-9pm, Fri. 9am-l :30pm.)