Medina Azahara, was a palatine or aulic city that the first caliph of Córdoba, Abderramán III, ordered to be built about 8 km outside of Córdoba in a western direction, at the foot of Sierra Morena.

The main reasons for its construction are of a political-ideological nature: the dignity of caliph requires the foundation of a new city, a symbol of his power, in imitation of other eastern caliphates and above all, to show his superiority over his great enemies, the newly established Fatimid Caliphate of Ifriqiya, the northern part of the African continent. In addition to being political opponents, they were also religious, since the Fatimids, Shiites, were enemies of the Umayyads, mostly from the Sunni Islamic branch.

The archaeological site of Medina Azahara has been declared a Site of Cultural Interest in the Monument category since 1923, in addition to being officially declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 1, 2018. In 2019 it received more than 285,672 visitors, being one of the most visited cultural spaces in Andalusia.

It has been described as the Versailles of the Middle Ages.

Under the reigns of Abderramán III (929-961) and his son and his successor Al-Hakam II (961-976) the state of Cordoba was consolidated. It is now when Abderramán III is missing a symbol of his religious and political power that represents the caliphate as it is a palatial city where to reside next to his court. After the failed attempt to raise al-Madina, in the year 936 AD. he orders the lavish Medina Azahara to be built next to the capital, Córdoba. Arisen from nowhere, the royal city concentrates all the political power of the caliphate.

With the reign of Hisham II (976-1016), the true protagonism was played by the "hayib" or Prime Minister Almanzor, a military genius in his fight that kept the Christian kingdoms of the north in check, reaching León, Pamplona, Barcelona or Santiago de Compostela where the bells of the pre-Romanesque temple dedicated to Santiago were taken to Córdoba.

When Almanzor died in 1002 the succession problems led to a civil war in 1010 until in 1031 it was decided to end the caliphate, now Al-Andalus became a compendium of different small kingdoms or kingdoms of taifa, losing its hegemony and giving rise to a greater push on the part of the Christian kingdoms.

It was during the civil war when Medina Azahara was abandoned and began its progressive destruction with looting and finally its total oblivion.

The Almoravids, who stormed from North Africa into Al-Andalus in 1086 and unified the Taifa kingdoms under their power, developed their own architecture, but very little has survived, since the next invasion, that of the Almohads, it imposed an ultra-Orthodox Islamism and destroyed practically all the important Almoravid buildings, along with Medina Azahara and other caliphal constructions.