Palace Area
The palace was built where the 1st century Roman aqueduct running from the Sierra Morena to Cordoba ran, but this was several metres below the palace, so a new spur was constructed further back to bring permanent running water to the higher levels. In turn, the section of the old Roman aqueduct now diverted was used as a main sewer for a highly complex system of small channels carrying away rain and waste water. Many food and ceramic remains have been found here.
The initial construction of the palace was very rapid: begun in 936 or 940, the mosque was completed in 941 and by 945 the caliph was in residence, moving in the mint by 947. However, construction continued for decades, with many changes of plan and examples building-over previous buildings. The reception hall of Abd-ar-Rahman, or "Salon Rico", can be dated by inscriptions to between 953 and 957. The large "House of Ja'far" is built over three earlier houses, and the building known as the "Court of the Pillars" replaced two earlier ones in the mid-950s. The other large hall remaining, the so-called "upper basilical hall" or "Dar al-Jund" ("House of the Army", a name mentioned in literary sources) was also probably built in the 950s.
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Famous quotes containing the words palace and/or area:
“How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)