Remains of ancient Arab city get heritage status
Madina Azahara, built in 10th century in Cordoba, has been added to Unesco’s list of World Heritage sites
The remarkably well-preserved remains of the Caliphate city of Madina Azahara, a medieval Arab Muslim town near the Spanish city of Cordoba, was added to Unesco’s list of World Heritage sites yesterday.
The 10th-century Moorish site provides “in-depth knowledge of the now vanished Western Islamic civilisation of Al Andalus, at the height of its splendour,” said Unesco’s World Heritage Committee, which is meeting in Bahrain.
After prospering for several years, the magnificent palacecity, which was the de facto capital of Al Andalus, or Muslim Spain, “was laid to waste during the civil war that put an end to the Caliphate in 1009-10.”
The city was built as a symbol of power to rival the caliphate of Baghdad, but lasted less than a century before it was destroyed in an uprising which ended the Cordoba caliphate at the beginning of the 11th century.
A far more recent historical site was also added to Unesco’s Heritage list yesterday.
The Italian industrial city of Ivrea, which was developed in the 20th century as a testing ground for Olivetti, manufacturer of typewriters, mechanical calculators and office computers, was also rewarded.
On Saturday the Unesco heritage committee added six other sites to its list, including Inuit hunting grounds in Greenland, ancient Korean mountain Buddhist temples, pre-Islamic sites in Iran, and Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings.