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Like in the Visigothic Period, the muslim took profit of the rests left in the past. On the Roman Ruins, composed by Customs, Quaestor’s Residence and Attorney Residence, the Umayyad Palace was built, delimitated towards North and South by the Jewish Quarter and the Guadalquivir River, towards west the Mosque Alhama and the Arroyo del Moro (Moorish Stream).
It seemed that the visigothic building was too small. So Emir Abd al–Rahman I "al-Dājil" (The Migrated) decided to adapt the new building to the muslim customs and ways of life, common of his culture. It is known that the Emir al-Hakam I "al-Murtazî" (the chronicler Ibn Hazm said he was the most sanguinary and despotic Umayyad Emirs) had a big stable with more than two thousand horses, that’s because of the lack of horses in the peninsule. So, for this reason the Royal Stables were created.
The size of the Muslim Alcazar was much larger than the nowadays Alcazar, it was composed by isolated pavilion with Gardens, and wide spaces with trees. It is thought that the central nucleus was composed by a rectangular building, with a perimeter of six hundred meters.
At the age of Emir Abd al-Rahman II the waters of Escarabitas and Bejarano were canalized through an aqueduct. This, linked to the Albolafia waters, allowed to fill in the fountains, pools and channels.
With Abd al-Rahman III "an-Nāsir li-dīn Allah", the first Caliph, the Alcazar stays in a second plan because of the building of Madinat al-Zahra. During the first part of the XI Century, Madinat al-Zahra suffered suffered looting, muggings, fires... that result in the abandonment and subsequent pillaging of the city . At the end of the century the city was nothing more than a ruin.
Nowadays what is seeable of this Alcazar, are the Caliph Baths that are restored. On the other hand, inside the Alcazar you can see the picture of the walls that separates the complex from the city, with its 5 m height and reinforced with little towers.
Some mouldings and wainscots are conserved inside the Chistian Kings Alcazar. They have special geometrical decorations on plinths, friezes or borders. |
