Column Base, c. 960-76. Spain, Cordoba, Spanish Umayyad period (756-1031). Marble; overall: 15 x 20.5 x 20.5 cm (5 7/8 x 8 1/16 x 8 1/16 in.). This base comes from the palatial city of Madinat al-Zahra near Cordoba (Spain) which was begun by caliph Abd al-Rahman III (r. 912-61) around 936. Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula were then under Islamic rule and experienced a cultural flowering. The city, destroyed already in 1010, was the most magnificent palace complex in Europe at the time.