Archnet > Site > Cortijo Alamiriya (MEGT)

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Upper terrace. View west toward monumental pool

Upper terrace. View southeast across remains of monumental pool

This estate is located 9 km west of Córdoba at the foot of the mountains and at the same height as al-Madinat al-Zahra’. The palace has been identified with al-Munyat al-Rummaniyya, based on a caliphal text recording that the slave Durri offered it as a gift to al-Hakam II. The pool, a remarkable piece of Ummayad ashlar work with a capacity of 4,000 cubic meters, was filled with water taken from the Guadarromán stream. The site was excavated by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, who found the remains of a summer house similar to a layout also seen at al-Madinat al-Zahra’. The house stood at the top of three terraces sloping down toward the Guadalquivir. The upper terrace now has orange trees and the lower two are used for grazing bulls.

It can be assumed that the estate was destroyed at the same time as al-Madinat al-Zahra’ in 1010.

Antonio Arjona Castro, Anales de Córdoba musulmana, 162.

Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, Arte del califato de Córdoba, 20–24.

Sources: Archaeological Analysis, 20th century | Court Chronicle, 10th and 11th centuries

-Antonio Almagro, Luis Ramón-Laca

Resources:

Anales de Córdoba musulmana, 711-1008 (Open in Zotero)

Arte del califato de Córdoba: Medina Azzahra y Alamiriya (Open in Zotero)

Las ruinas de ‘Alamiría,’ un yacimiento arqueológico erróneamente denominado (Open in Zotero)

Originally published at:Almagro, Antonio, and Luis Ramón-Laca. “Cortijo Alamiriya.” Middle East Garden Traditions. Dumbarton Oaks, November 18, 2014. https://www.doaks.org/resources/middle-east-garden-traditions/catalogue#b_start=0&c6=Andalusian++Gardens. Archived at: https://perma.cc/J8KF-DV5P

Córdoba, Spain

Introduction to the Catalogue of Andalusian Gardens

711-1031

landscape

Dumbarton Oaks MEGT Record

This estate is located 9 km west of Córdoba at the foot of the mountains and at the same height as al-Madinat al-Zahra’. The palace has been identified with al-Munyat al-Rummaniyya, based on a caliphal text recording that the slave Durri offered it as a gift to al-Hakam II. The pool, a remarkable piece of Ummayad ashlar work with a capacity of 4,000 cubic meters, was filled with water taken from the Guadarromán stream. The site was excavated by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, who found the remains of a summer house similar to a layout also seen at al-Madinat al-Zahra’. The house stood at the top of three terraces sloping down toward the Guadalquivir. The upper terrace now has orange trees and the lower two are used for grazing bulls.