Occurrence of Attributes in Original Text
The text related to the cultural heritage 'Caliphate City of Medina Azahara' has mentioned 'Caliph' in the following places:
| Occurrence Sentence | Text Source |
|---|---|
| The city was built in the 10th century by Abd-ar-Rahman III (912xe2x80x93961), a member of the Umayyad dynasty and the first caliph of Al-Andalus. | WIKI |
| The main reason for its construction was politico-ideological: Abd ar-Rahman III had declared himself "caliph" in 929 and the dignity of this new title required the establishment of a new city, a symbol of his power, imitating other eastern Caliphates. | WIKI |
| The title "caliph" signified the political and spiritual leader of the whole Muslim world. | WIKI |
| Although independent from the Abbasids, the new Umayyad rulers in Al-Andalus, based in Cordoba, did not reclaim the title of "caliph" at this time. | WIKI |
| In 929, after years of constant campaigning, Abd ar-Rahman III felt confident enough to declare himself "caliph", a title equal to the Abbasid rulers in Baghdad (whose own power had significantly weakened by this time). | WIKI |
| By 945 the caliph was already living in the city. | WIKI |
| [20][21] The supervisor of the hall's construction was Abdallah ibn Badr, the vizier and highest-ranking official under the caliph at that time. | WIKI |
| The decoration was executed under the supervision of the caliph's eunuch servant Shunaif, although it's unclear if he was also involved in the design of the hall. | WIKI |
| These new structures were often built over older, relatively more modest structures, and were thus designed to increase the impression of the caliph's magnificence through the architecture of his city. | WIKI |
| This growing awareness of other imperial courts and Abd ar-Rahman's desire to match them may explain an increase in the complexity of the ceremonies and court protocols surrounding the caliph around this time, to which historical sources of the time attached great importance, along with an increase in the architectural scale of the new buildings. | WIKI |
| The palaces housed the caliph's household, including a large number of concubines. | WIKI |
| [31] Under the cultured caliph Al-Hakam II in particular, there was also a library which by some accounts contained hundreds of thousands of volumes in Arabic, Greek, and Latin. | WIKI |
| Many objects produced in the caliph's official workshops were given as gifts and have made their way into the collections of museums and Christian cathedrals. | WIKI |
| The new caliphate also developed an increasingly elaborate culture of court protocols around the figure of the caliph. | WIKI |
| [33] The organisation of the city seems to have included a specific path to be followed by foreign guests and dignitaries on their way to the caliph's audience chamber, which was fronted by gardens and pools with vistas over the rest of the city and the valley below. | WIKI |
| [31] The caliph himself would appear seated at the back and center of his audience chamber, surrounded by courtiers and officials, with the architecture designed to focus on his position. | WIKI |
| [34] While the caliph increasingly took on an air of aloofness during this period, the protocols did not evolve to the point of hiding him completely from view xe2x80x93 by contrast with the Fatimid caliphs in Africa, who were kept hidden behind a veil. | WIKI |
| Various members of the caliph's family, or other wealthy elites, also built their own villas and palaces in the countryside around Cordoba during this period of prosperity in the 10th century. | WIKI |
| The caliph even kept some family members in such villas in order to distance them from the center of power in Madinat al-Zahra, providing them with a generous stipend so they wouldn't cause trouble. | WIKI |
| When it was ready Al-Mansur moved the center of government there, leaving the old Madinat al-Zahra in disuse and confining the young caliph Hisham to the old Alcazar in Cordoba instead. | WIKI |
| Following the terraces, the first corresponds to the residential area of the caliph, next comes the official area including the houses of the viziers, the guard-room, administrative offices and gardens. | WIKI |
| According to historical Arabic sources, the three levels of the city had distinct functions: the uppermost level housed the private palaces of the caliph and his closest associates, the middle terrace housed the buildings of the state administration and the residences of high officials, and the much larger lower level was for the common people and the army. | WIKI |
| The eastern zone comprised the "official" sector, occupied by administrative and reception buildings, and the western zone served as the "private" sector, occupied by private residences of the caliph and his court. | WIKI |
| Like the Great Mosque of Cordoba, a private passage allowed for the caliph to enter the mosque directly into the maqsura, the privileged area near the mihrab. | WIKI |
| To the west of the gate was the caliph's private palace (the Dar al-Mulk) and to the east was the administrative district and the Upper Basilical Hall (the Dar al-Jund). | WIKI |
| On top of the gate's portico structure was a viewing platform where the caliph could sit and observe events on the plaza below. | WIKI |
| The exact function of this large structure is uncertain, but scholars and archeologists have traditionally assumed that it had an administrative or official (semi-public) function, such as a reception chamber for ceremonies and for ambassadors on their way to see the caliph. | WIKI |
| [12][63][64] The Dar al-Jund is mentioned in historical sources as an assembly hall for the officers of the caliph's army. | WIKI |
| During official receptions, the caliph likely sat in the middle of the back wall of the central chamber. | WIKI |
| [34] Antonio Vallejo Triano argues that the overall design of the building suggests that the two outermost chambers, along with the southern chamber at the front, formed a "U"-shaped space around the three central chambers and that the latter formed a privileged space for the caliph's audience. | WIKI |
| [70] Felix Arnold, in a slightly different interpretation, suggests that visitors entered the building from the sides and then entered the central chamber by moving from the outermost chambers to the central one, with each wall of doors and archways acting as a "screen" through which they passed closer to the caliph. | WIKI |
| Antonio Vallejo Triano has proposed that this house was a residence of al-Hakam II before he became caliph in 961. | WIKI |
| Because of its more evolved decoration its construction has been dated to after 961, during the reign of al-Hakam II, which may support a hypothesis by Fxc3xa9lix Hernxc3xa1ndez Gimxc3xa9nez that this large residence was built for the eponymous Ja'far, a hajib (chamberlain) of Caliph al-Hakam II between 961 and 971. | WIKI |
| [20][21] The supervisor of the hall's construction was Abdallah ibn Badr, the vizier and highest-ranking official under the caliph at that time. | WIKI |
| The decoration was executed under the supervision of the caliph's eunuch servant Shunaif, although it's unclear if he was also involved in the design of the hall. | WIKI |
| The central hall and its decorated archesThe central blind arch at the back of the hall, where the caliph sat | WIKI |
| During audiences the caliph sat at the middle of the back wall, in front of the central blind arch. | WIKI |
| These proportions had the practical benefit of allowing the caliph sitting at the back of the hall to be able to see the entire width of the hall within his field of vision without having to turn his head. | WIKI |
| [99] The final width corresponds to the base of an equilateral triangle whose summit could be placed at the center of the Salxc3xb3n Rico's faxc3xa7ade, similar to the proportions found inside the caliph's reception hall. | WIKI |