Re: Archaeologists fight to save a medieval Muslim jewel

....stolen from the infidels.

"Faris Jawad" <ana_faris_bila_jawad@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:pDqQe.1071$884.108948@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Archaeologists fight to save a medieval Muslim jewel
> 8/28/2005 5:30:00 PM GMT
>
> Source: New York Times
>
> As historians describe it, this buried city three miles west of Cordoba
was
> the Versailles of the Middle Ages and known as Medina Azahara, or Madinat
> al-Zahra is a collection of estates, palaces and treasures that dazzled
> whoever visited it.
>
> "Travelers from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions in life,
> following various religions, princes, ambassadors, merchants, pilgrims,
> theologians, and poets all agreed that they had never seen in the course
of
> their travels anything that could be compared to it," Stanley Lane-Poole,
a
> 19th-century historian, wrote in his book The Story of the Moors in Spain.
>
> Although archaeologists say that many of those marvels did exist, physical
> evidence has yet to be found.
>
> "This was the largest city ever built from scratch in Western Europe,"
> covering nearly 280 acres, Antonio Vallejo, the chief archaeologist said.
>
> Madinat al-Zahra was an Islamic metropolis built in the 10th century as a
> testament to Spain's proclamation in 929 that it was the true caliphate of
> the Muslim world.
>
> Its construction was a singular moment in history, when the most vibrant
> intellectual and cultural force in Europe was rooted in Islam, and when
the
> heart of Islam was in many ways rooted in Europe.
>
> Today, and less than a hundred years after the ruins of the city were
found
> and its location was brought back on modern maps, archaeologists warn of a
> new threat.
>
> Construction companies started building houses on the site of the city, 90
> percent of which remains unexcavated.
>
> During the 20 years he worked to preserve the site, Vallejo faced many
> obstacles and challenges, "but the biggest problem we have had is the
> building of these illegal homes".
>
> Despite its location on a predominantly Christian continent, Medina
Azahara
> represented a society that became the embodiment of the Islamic world at
its
> peak.
>
>
http://islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/world_full_story.asp?service_id=1724
>
>


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