The Silver Tree (Al-Shajarat Fidiya)

The Silver Tree is a mechanical device that resides on an island between two small streams in the main court garden, in the primary palace in the circular city of Madinat al-'Anhar. It is a gigantic tree made of silver with a brass banded trunk. It's several branches were adorned with gold and silver leaves which appeared to sway in the breeze. On each branch perched several birds which constantly sung pre programmed songs.
It was designed and constructed under the great engineering family the Beni Tawbah during their employment in the Bayt al-Maerifa during the reign of the Great Caliph, Al-Hakim in the third century AW. It took almost 3 years to construct and design, but was one of the multitude of inventions in the court of the time.
A majority of it's mechanisms were powered by pneumatics.

Significance

The Silver tree is a symbol of beauty and mechanical expertise. It also symbolizes the luxury and opulence of the height of the Caliphate. It is shown to all envoys from other nations as a sign of their intellectual and scientific sophistication over other societies. It was usually perceived in wonder and cataloged in several reports of ambassadors upon their visits to the Madinat al-'Anhar.

Item type

Mechanical

Related Technologies

• ingenious mechanical devices
• pneumatics
• pneumatics

Owning Organization

The Caliphate

Rarity

While there are other mechanical trees and singing birds incorporated in various devices, there is not a tree made of this much precious metal, this large and ornate. The Bani Tawbah created several different complex mechanical devices powered by pneumatic power during this time period, but nothing as grand as the Silver Tree.
The Bani Tawbah programmed the tree with songs that were popular with the Qiyan at the time, and thus was able to preserve some of the music of the time until the city was sacked in 765 AW.

Dimensions

40 cubits tall