A “city of power” hidden in the landscape
The proposal comes from University of Córdoba researcher Antonio Monterroso Checa, who has published a new argument for Medina al-Zahira’s location based on remote-sensing analysis, reports the University of Córdoba. His work focuses on the area historically known as the Cabezos de las Pendolillas, near Alcolea, roughly 12 km (about 7.5 miles) east of Córdoba’s Great Mosque.
What makes this stand out is scale and geometry. The study points to more than 1,200 meters of linear terrain anomalies - shapes consistent with major buried structures - spread across an estimated 120 hectares. That figure is striking because it matches the approximate footprint of Madinat al-Zahrā (Medina Azahara), the famed caliphal palace-city built earlier to the west of Córdoba.
Ruins of Medina Azahara - vast, fortified Andalus palace-city built by Abd-ar-Rahman III (912–961), the first Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba. (Pavel Kirichenko/Adobe Stock)
LiDAR clues: terraces, blocks, and a planned urban grid
The heart of the case is LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which can reveal subtle changes in elevation, often the only surface signature of structures buried for centuries. Monterroso Checa argues that the newly available “third coverage” LiDAR dataset provides sharper detail than earlier national datasets, allowing a more confident reading of the terrain.
According to the university summary, the anomalies suggest an ordered, terraced layout built from aggregated rectangular and square-plan constructions, with some elements deviating from the orthogonal grid to orient southeast. The researcher is quoted describing the evidence as relief irregularities produced by “an enormous archaeological site” which, by its characteristics, “must correspond with the lost city of Almanzor.”
The same report adds an intriguing historical detail: the area is documented from the 15th century and later formed part of royal pastureland and the “Yeguadas Reales” (Royal Stud Farms) from the reign of Philip II, suggesting the land remained under controlled use rather than heavily developed, which may have helped preserve what lies underneath.
Why Almanzor built it - and why it vanished
Medina al-Zahira is tied to one of the most powerful and controversial figures of late Umayyad al-Andalus: Almanzor (al-Manṣūr). While the caliphs reigned, Almanzor is remembered as the de facto strongman of Córdoba, projecting authority through administration, military campaigning, and monumental building.
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This is important because Madinat al-Zahira wasn’t simply another neighborhood. It was meant to be a power center - an architectural statement to rival Madinat al-Zahra, and a physical seat for the machinery of rule. If the LiDAR-detected site is confirmed archaeologically, it would reshape how scholars map Córdoba’s political landscape at the end of the 10th century, and potentially add a major new chapter to Iberian Islamic archaeology.
For context on Córdoba’s long strategic importance through successive empires—and why controlling approaches along the Guadalquivir mattered see Ancient Origins’ feature on the Roman Bridge of Córdoba, a crossing used and rebuilt across Roman and Islamic periods.
Top image: The proposed location of the lost city of Medina Azahara in Córdoba. Source: A. Monterroso / University of Cordoba
By Gary Manners
References
Monterroso Checa, A. 2026. Publican la posible ubicación de Madinat al Zāhira en el extremo este de Córdoba. Available at: https://www.uco.es/ucci/es/noticias-gen/item/5376-publican-la-posible-ubicacion-de-madinat-al-zahira-en-el-extremo-este-de-cordoba
Monterroso Checa, A. (2026), “Propuesta de ubicación de Madinat Al-Zāhira en el extremo este de Córdoba”, Meridies 15-16 (2024-2025), pp. 98-139. https://journals.uco.es/meridies/issue/view/1376/303
La Brújula Verde. 2026. Descubren la ubicación de Medina Alzahira, la ciudad perdida de Almanzor en Al‑Andalus. Available at: https://www.labrujulaverde.com/2026/01/descubren-la-ubicacion-de-medina-alzahira-la-ciudad-perdida-de-almanzor-en-al-andalus
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2018. Caliphate City of Medina Azahara. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1560/
