A few kilometres outside the city of Córdoba in southern Spain lie the remains of a once legendary Moorish palace district, the Mahdinat Al-Zahra.

It is believed that in around 936 A.D. the Moorish monarch, Abd Ar-Rahman The Third, ordered the construction of the huge residence. Work on the palace, the administrative sections and the gardens took more than forty years to complete.

Over ten thousand workmen were involved in its construction but today little of the former splendour of this ‘Andalusian Versailles’ is apparent as only the mighty ruins of the former terraced palace have survived to the present day.

Thanks to the intensive restoration and reconstruction work of recent years the buildings of the former Reception Hall provide a fascinating insight into the royal court of the Moors. The Salón of Abd Ar-Rahman The Third shines out once again in all of its ancient and glorious splendour.

Soon after its completion the Mahdinat Al-Zahra was described as a ‘wonder of the western hemisphere’, a fairy-tale-like synthesis of the arts located upon the picturesque southern slopes of the Sierra Morena.