The Abu Dulaf Mosque sits about ten kilometres north of Samarra's main monuments, at what was to be a secondary Abbasid palace complex. Its minaret echoes the famous Malwiya at the Great Mosque of Samarra — another spiral brick tower, smaller (about 18 metres high) but similarly built so that a ramp winds around the outside. The mosque itself is a well-preserved ruin, its outer walls intact in places and the mihrab still identifiable.
Because it sees far fewer visitors than the Great Mosque and Malwiya Minaret, Abu Dulaf has a particular quiet and melancholy. The surrounding landscape is completely flat and agricultural, and you often have the site entirely to yourself. It is not as dramatic as the main monuments, but as an example of Abbasid architecture that has survived the centuries with relatively little disturbance, it has a strong claim on your time.