The new caliph was 25 years old. The historian al-Tabari, who lived during his reign, describes him as of "medium size, handsome, of a delicate complexion, with full head of beautiful hair and a luxurious beard". Al-Muktafi inherited his father's love of buildings. He completed al-Mu'tadid's third palace project, the Taj ("Crown") Palace, in Baghdad, for which he reused bricks from the palace of the Sasanian rulers in Ctesiphon. Among its numerous buildings was a semicircular tower, known as the "Cupola of the Ass" ("Hubbat al-Himar"). The caliph could ride to its top mounted on a donkey, and from there gaze on the surrounding countryside. On the site of his father's palace prisons, he also added a Friday mosque to the palace, the "Jami al-Qasr" ("Palace Mosque"), now known as the "Jami al-Khulafa". He also emulated his father in avarice and parsimony, which allowed him to leave, despite a short reign with almost continuous warfare, a considerable surplus. Thus, in May 903, al-Muktafi left Baghdad and went to the old capital of Samarra, with the intention of moving his seat there, but was quickly dissuaded by the high cost the rebuilding of the city would entail. His easy-going nature, on the other hand, was the antithesis of his father, who was famous for his extreme severity and the cruel and imaginative punishments he inflicted, and al-Muktafi became popular when, soon after his accession, he destroyed his father's underground prisons and gave the site to the people, released prisoners and returned lands confiscated by the government.