Cordoba at Its Zenith

Under Abd al Rahman III, Cordoba becomes the most cultivated city of Europe, famed for its libraries, streetlights and scholars.

Abd al Rahman III declared the caliphate of Cordoba and built the palace city of Madinat al Zahra. Visitors described paved and lit streets, hundreds of public baths, and a royal library said to hold four hundred thousand volumes. Students of three faiths studied medicine, mathematics and music side by side.