Madinat Al-Zahra
— — a caliph's city that lasted seventy years.
Not only on a wall.
“A vast tenth-century palace city built into the south slope of the Sierra Morena, terraced down toward the Guadalquivir plain. Abd al-Rahman III began it in 936 as the new capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba; it was sacked and abandoned by 1010, less than a lifetime after the first stone was set. What remains is the upper terrace, the Hall of Abd al-Rahman III with its carved alabaster panels, and a long quiet field of foundations under the olives. The site became a UNESCO World Heritage property in 2018. from the studio
Madinat Al-Zahra, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Madinat al-Zahra, also written Medina Azahara, is the ruined palace city of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, about eight kilometers west of Córdoba on the south flank of the Sierra Morena. Construction began in 936 under Caliph Abd al-Rahman III as a new capital separate from the older city, organised across three descending terraces with the palace at the top, gardens and administration in the middle, and a residential quarter on the lowest level. The site was sacked during the Fitna of al-Andalus around 1010 and abandoned, then forgotten under farmland until excavations began in 1911.
The signature space is the Salón Rico, the reception hall of Abd al-Rahman III, lined with carved limestone and stucco panels in a dense vegetal style known as ataurique. The hall's central horseshoe arch sits between aisles separated by reused Roman and Visigothic columns, a deliberate gesture of inheritance. Excavation has revealed only about ten percent of the city's roughly 112 hectares, but the recovered carving is detailed enough that fragments have been refitted to within a centimeter. Conservation is led by the Conjunto Arqueológico, with the on-site museum opened in 2009 and awarded the Aga Khan Award in 2010.
The visit begins at the museum on the plain, where a free exhibition lays out the site's history and recovered pieces. A shuttle bus runs continuously up the two kilometers to the archaeological terraces; private cars cannot drive to the upper site. Entry to the archaeological zone is free for EU citizens and a small fee for others, and the site closes on Mondays. The walk through the ruins from top to bottom takes about ninety minutes; spring and autumn are recommended over the high heat of July and August, when the south-facing terraces become difficult.