Hostoriography in Medina Azahara, Cordoba, Spain

Historiography


        After the conquest of Ferdinand III "The Saint" in 1236, it is known that the christian reconquerors robbed a lot of materials coming from the civil and religious buildings. The New Córdoba, the christian one, was built with muslim elements, coming from the ancient Córdoba, this situation lasted centuries. So, in 1408, the Town Hall allowed Ines de Pontevedra to reuse the elements found near Madinat al-Zahra for building the Monastery of Saint Jerome of Valparaiso. All this, in change of some plots near Madinat al-Zahra.
        The first historian that named these ruins was historian cordovan Ambrosio de Morales, in the XVI Century, but he related them to the Roman Period. In 1625, another cordovan, Don Pedro Ruiz de Rivas, said that they could belong to the Muslim Period, relating them to the Caliph Abd al-Rahman III’s Period. The identification of these rests such as, Madinat al-Zahra rests was in 1853, thank to theFelix Hernández Giménez art critic Pedro de Madrazo y Kunt’s knowledge of the translations of the muslim texts, where the city of Córdoba was constantly named. The excavations couldn’t begin till 1911. In charge of the works: Don Ricardo Velázquez Bosco. In 1923 they were declared national monuments.
        Though the works run by Don Ricardo Velázquez Bosco were excellent, we cannot forget the gold period of excavations, run by architect Don Félix Hernández Giménez, who helped the arabist Manuel Ocaña Jiménez. Since 1976 till 1984 the restoration was run by Rafael Manzano Martos.
        Since 1984 the Andalusian government run the restorations and the excavations of the complex. Antonio Vallejo Triano is running this task, which is lasting more than twenty years.


Texto: Text: Jesús Pijuán.

Traslated by Sara Moretti