Occurrence of Attributes in Original Text

The text related to the cultural heritage 'Caliphate City of Medina Azahara' has mentioned 'Palace' in the following places:
Occurrence Sentence Text Source
Archeological site of Moorish palace in Spain
Contents 1 Name 2 History 2.1 Background 2.2 Construction and development 2.3 Life and government within the palace-city 2.4 Construction of Madinat az-Zahira by Almanzor 2.5 Decline and destruction 3 Geography 4 Architecture and layout 4.1 Overview 4.2 The lower level 4.2.1 The Aljama Mosque 4.3 The upper levels (palace areas) 4.3.1 Gates and entrances 4.3.1.1 North Gate 4.3.1.2 Bab al-Sudda (eastern portico) 4.3.2 Upper Basilical Hall (Dar al-Jund) 4.3.3 Dar al-Mulk 4.3.4 Court of the Pillars and nearby buildings 4.3.5 House of the Water Basin 4.3.6 House of Ja'far 4.3.7 The service area 4.3.8 Salxc3xb3n Rico (Reception Hall of Abd ar-Rahman III) 4.3.9 The Upper Garden and the Central Pavilion 4.3.10 The Lower Garden 4.4 Water infrastructure 5 Architectural influence and legacy 6 Archaeology and conservation 7 Museum 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links
[15] However, there is evidence that only the palaces were protected by a wall at first and that the outer city wall was added after residential areas had already begun to develop outside the palace.
Based on the evidence of these constructions, Vallejo Triano has argued that a fairly significant remodelling of the palace complex took place in the 950s.
[30] Among the wonders reported by historical chronicles about the palaces, Al-Maqqari described a domed hall in the palace which contained a pool of liquid mercury which reflected light and could be stirred to create dazzling ripples of light, although the location of this hall has not been found by modern archeologists.
[37] In 978 or 979 (368 AH), after he had secured the monopoly of power, he ordered the construction of a new palace city for himself which rivaled Madinat al-Zahra in beauty.
[38][39] Al-Mansur called his palace with a very similar name: Madinat Az-Zahira ("the Shining City").
[38][40][39] The location of the palace, which has never been excavated, is still debated: it may have been between Cordoba and Madinat az-Zahra to the west, or it may have been built to the east of Cordoba, in order to draw the focus of power away from the earlier Umayyad palaces.
[41][38][39] The new palace took only two years to build.
At the same time, Madinat al-Zahira, the palace built by Al-Mansur and the center of government, was pillaged and destroyed.
Taking full advantage of the uneven terrain, the palace city of Madinat az-Zahra was distributed in three terraces.
The palace was located at a higher level, and staggered its buildings along the side of the mountain in an expression of clear preeminence over the urban hamlets and the Aljama Mosque spread across the plains below.
Next is the city proper, with housing, crafts, and the great mosque of the two lower terraces separated by another wall in order to isolate the upper palace complex.
Plan of the cityOverall outline and division of the cityMajor excavated structures in the Alcazar (upper palace areas)
The upper levels (palace areas)[edit]
The northern gate of the city, Bab al-Jibal ("Gate of the Mountains"), was located at the highest point of the city and granted access directly into the middle of the Alcazar or palace area of the city.
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).
The official and ceremonial entrance to the palace areas, however, was located further east and was known as Bab al-Sudda ("Forbidden Gate" or "Gate of the Threshold").
[62] Felix Arnold, an archeologist and scholar on the topic of Islamic palace architecture in the region, suggests that the building's size means that it must have been the main audience hall of Madinat al-Zahra, which might identify it instead with either the Majlis ash-Sharqi ("Eastern Hall") or Majlis al-Gharbi ("Western Hall") mentioned in historical sources.
Felix Arnold suggests that this overall layout had a precedent in the older Alcazar of Cordoba, where visitors coming from the main public entrance to the west arrived into a courtyard or garden in front of the Majlis al-Kamil ("Perfect Hall"), the main audience chamber of the palace.
The main hall itself is the largest interior space ever documented in the historic palace architecture of the western Islamic world, being large enough to accommodate up to 3000 people.
The Dar al-Mulk or "Royal House" is a palace described in historical sources.
[74] Felix Arnold notes that because the doorways of the three halls were aligned with each other and faced outwards from the edge of the palace terrace, they would have offered views of the distant horizon across the valley, but not onto a private garden or courtyard as was typical in many Islamic palaces in the history of the region.
To the north of the House of Ja'far is a complex of rooms and houses which have been classified as a service area, although little is known of how the palace servants were organized.
[12][29][88] It was part of a larger palace complex which was built to the south of the Upper Basilical Hall.
The palace was built where the 1st century Roman aqueduct running from the Sierra Morena to Cordoba ran, but this was several metres below the palace, so a new spur was constructed further back to bring permanent running water to the higher levels.
[110][31] The basilical royal reception hall, as seen in the Salon Rico, is another distinctive creation here which became a distinctive feature of palace architecture in this region, as it contrasted with the domed and vaulted halls found in the eastern part of the Islamic world.
In 2020, archaeologists discovered a gateway, that marked the eastern entrance to the 10th-century palace, which was missing for more than a thousand years.
As for the excavated part of the Qasr or fortified palace, continued excavation and conservation work has brought to light a set of well conserved buildings whose original walls reach a height of several meters.