Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara is an archaeological site, one of the three UNESCO World Heritage sites in Cordoba, Andalusia, southern Spain
Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara is an archaeological site, one of the three UNESCO World Heritage sites in Cordoba, Andalusia, southern Spain The Upper Basilica building (Edificio Basilcal Superior) with its large arches could have been used as the headquarters of one of the Caliphal administration departments within the ruins of the constructed Moorish fortified palace-city on the western outskirts of Cordoba. The 112-hectare site is a major archaeological site and a tourist attraction on the slopes of a long mountain range. The ruins were buried for almost a millennium until the excavations began in 1911 of which only a third has yet been excavated. The city was first constructed in AD 936 as a symbol of power by Caliph Abd ar-Rahman III, a member of the Umayyad dynasty and the first caliph of Al-Andalus to show his superiority to his political and religious opponents. The city just survived 70 years before it was destroyed and looted by the Berbers, between the years 1010 and 1013, in a civil war that put an end to the Caliphate of Cordoba. In 2018, UNESCO declared Medina Azahara a World Heritage Site, crowning Cordoba as the city with the most World Heritage Sites in the world.
Size: 4024px × 6048px
Location: Medina Azahara, Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
Photo credit: © richard sowersby / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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