ABSTRACT
With ‘the archaeological site as the protagonist, and the museum a supporting character’, the Madinat al-Zahra Museum uncovers and interprets the powerful Islamic city that emerged and disappeared in the period 940–1010 in al-Andalus. It functions as a visual memory of a plural past, of a mixed heritage, and a long period of cultural and religious coexistence, where universal influences passed through this Western Islamic civilization to and from Europe, to and from the world. The architecture of the magnificent new museum building ingeniously supports a comprehensive understanding of the museological journey of the archaeological finds, from the excavation through documentation and conservation to exhibition galleries – or back to the site as part of the reconstructions.
