Upper Housing in Medina Azahara, Cordoba (Spain)
Upper Housing
The Upper Housing are integrated by two similar buildings with the organization of
their rooms around great squared courts with stones floors and elevated fro the rest of the around buildings. The occidental one had three rooms; the oriental one has a more irregular shape because there was a ramp that linked the terrace of the Alcazar of Madinat al-Zahra Complex.
You could reach he housing from a street ramp, eastern zone of the alcazar that was linked from southern with the trapezoidal space. This way was closed then. In
the middle of the court there are marble pools that were used to supply the water to the houses.
At the beginning, the housing, that they were part of the original design of the alcazar, were organized in wide rooms, some of them had a high plan or an attic, covered with tiles and a singular water supply, water pouring into the courtyard. The rooms were partitioned with tough materials and factory, which indicates a more intensive use of these rooms. The most important room of the house west in the center of its north side, with bedrooms on both ends and a latrine, which indicates that it was occupied by an
important figure in the court, whose needs were met from housing East, in addition to bedrooms, it had built a kitchen in the courtyard and a room where you cut the meat.
So the residential function of western housing is clear, but the main function of the occidental housing was to control the complex from the height. By the other hand, the oriental housing was used to receive the supplies and other domestic tasks, as evidence of their domestic feature (service area of western housing). It was confirmed because a lot of ceramic pottery was found in its wastewater.
Text: Jesús Pijuán.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture y Tourism in Cordoba