Medina Azahara

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The Ruins of Madinat al-Zhara (in Arabic: Madinat al-Zahra, مدينة الزهراء) are located about 5 kilometers from Córdoba, Spain. The ruins were discovered about ninety years ago. Only about 10 percent of the 112 sites have been excavated and restored. The city flourished for approximately 80 years. It had been built by Abd ar-Rahman III the Caliph of Córdoba starting between 936 and 940. After Abd ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself Caliph in 929, establishing the independent Umayyad Caliphate in the west, he decided to show his subjects and the world his power by building a palace-city 5 miles from Cordoba. The largest known city built from scratch in Western Europe, Madinat al-Zahra was the forgotten Versailles of the middle ages. It would be described by travelers from northern Europe and from the East as a dazzling series of palaces full of treasures never seen before. Around 1010, Madinat al-Zahra was sacked during the civil war that led to the dissolution of the Caliphate of Cordoba.^[1] The raid effectively wiped the city off the map for a millennium.

Popular legend holds that the Caliph named al-Zahra, or Azahara, after his favorite concubine, and that a statue of a woman stood over the entrance. Others, imagining his demanding lover, say that he built this new city just to please her. The truth, however, has probably more to do with politics than love. Abd al-Rahman III ordered the construction of this city at a time when he had just finished consolidating his political power in the Iberian Peninsula and was entering into conflict with the Fatimid dynasty for the control of North Africa.

It was this moment when he declared himself utterly independent, the true Caliph (Prince of Believers) and descendant of the Umayyad dynasty, which had nearly been completely exterminated by the Abassids in the 9th century. He brought about a series of political, economic and ideological measures to impress upon the world his legitimacy. A new capital city, fitting of his status, was one of those measures. He decided to build the city in 936 and the construction time was about forty years. The Mosque at the site was consecrated in 941 and in 947 the government was transferred from Córdoba.^[2]

"Teeming with treasures that dazzled the most jaded traveler or world—weary aristocrat...Pools of mercury could be shaken to spray beams of reflected sunlight across marble walls and ceilings of gold... Doors carved of ivory and ebony led to sprawling gardens full of exotic animals and sculptures made of amber and pearls..."^[3]

What is visible of the ruins of Madinat al-Zahra today is only 10% of its extension, forgotten for 900 years. The 112 hectare-urb was no mere pleasure palace for weekend excursions, but the effective capital of al-Andalus, the territory controlled by the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula from the beginning of the 8th century to the middle of the 11th. The magnificent white city, built in steppes into the hillside at the base of the Sierra Morena with the Caliph's palace at the highest point, was designed to be seen by his subjects and foreign ambassadors for miles.

Abd al-Rahman III moved his entire court to Medina Azahara in 947-48. We may imagine that his beloved al-Zahra was already comfortably installed in the new Medinat.

With time the entire city was buried, not to be unearthed until 1911. The restoration of that portion of the city that has been excavated is very impressive. Excavation and restoration continues, depending upon funding by the Spanish government. The unexcavated portion, however, is unfortunately threatened by the illegal construction of housing. According to the New York Times, "The local government in Córdoba, he said, has failed to enforce a law passed 10 years ago that expanded protections for the site against development... Construction companies are putting up houses on the site of the city, 90 percent of which remains unexcavated." ^[4]

Artistically, the Medina Azahara played a great role in formulating a distinct Andalusian Islamic architecture. Many of its features, such as basilical royal reception halls (as contrasted with domed ones in the eastern part of the Islamic world) are here conceived for the first time. Other features, such as the arranging of the suites of rooms around a central courtyard or garden, are echoed throughout western Islamic architecture, for example as late as in the Alhambra. The Mosque of Medina Azahara bears close resemblance to the Mezquita or Mosque in Córdoba; it has been called its "little sister"^[5]

[edit] References

Barrucand, Marianne & Bednorz, Achim, Moorish Architecture in Andalusia, Taschen, 2002

[edit] Notes

1. ^ O'Callaghan, Joseph F., A History of Medieval Spain, Cornell University Press, 1975, Cornell Paperback 1983, p. 132
2. ^ Barrucand, Marianne & Bednorz, Achim, Moorish Architecture in Andalusia, Taschen, 2002, p. 61
3. ^ Growth in Spain Threatens a Jewel of Medieval Islam - New York Times
4. ^ Growth in Spain Threatens a Jewel of Medieval Islam - New York Times
5. ^ Barrucand, Marianne & Bednorz, Achim, Moorish Architecture in Andalusia, Taschen, 2002, p. 64