Architectural Works of Madinat al-Zahra in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection

Abstract

Madinat al-Zahra was built by the Andalusian Umayyad dynasty between 936 and 976 on the southern slopes of Mount Jabal alArab (Sierra Morena), 5 km northwest of Cordoba (Qurtuba). The structure differs significantly in its architectural and decorative style from the Abbasid capital in Samarra, Iraq, and from structures built in other parts of the Islamic world during the same period. The first comprehensive excavation of Madinat al-Zahra was carried out in 1910 by the Spanish architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco. The donor of all architectural pieces from Madinat al-Zahra that were held at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), UK, was a collector named Dr. Walter Leo Hildburgh. As of 1914, a small portion (although the largest outside Spain) of the excavated artifacts was donated by Hildburgh to the museum.

This article examines ornaments on seventy-three pieces of architectural works held at the V&A Museum. The parts were evaluated comparatively with other findings obtained from the Madinat al-Zahra excavation site and with the ornamentation programs in different Islamic structures contemporary to the palace city and also dating to later periods. Ornamental elements, especially the vegetal motifs, were compared with ornaments found in the renowned Salon Rico of Madinat al-Zahra, two samples from Eastern Umayyad, namely Khirbet al-Mafjar and Masjid al-Aqsa, as well as with their successors in Kayseri, Anatolia. Hence, it was possible to study the characteristic Andalusian ornaments observable in the architectural works in the museum collection in a wide spectrum of geography and time.

The motifs such as palmettes, half-palmettes, or rumi and rosettes on the architectural pieces from the collection coincide with the characteristic Andalusian ornaments. The vegetal elements such as acanthus, vines, and curved stems used in the decoration are taken from Syrian and Egyptian Christian art. Examples of ribbons, rosettes encircled in beads, and triangular motifs bearing Sassanid influences, common in various Umayyad works, were also evident in the collection. Animal figures, on the other hand, while found in various contemporary structures, were not observed on any of the pieces from the palace city complex. Samples of capitals in the collection included basic types with protruding acanthus leaves and deep-drilled lace-like patterns. It is possible to speak of a general Umayyad style dominated by the fear of emptiness (horror vacui), a characteristic of arabesque decoration, accompanied by deeply carved natural-looking detailed vegetal motifs in the decorations as exhibited in many works made during the Umayyad rule.

Citation: Al, Zeynep /Diri Apaydın, Tuğba (2025). “Architectural Works of Madinat al-Zahra in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection”, Erdem, December, Issue:89, pp. 1-38