The event will include speeches by Félix Arnold, of the German Archeological Institute of Madrid, and Alberto Canto, of the Prehistory and Archeology Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Presenting the event are Pedro Martínez-Avial, the General Director of Casa Árabe, and Alberto Montejo, director of the Madinat al-Zahra Archeological Site.

In March 2016, at a meeting by the Historical Heritage Board of Spain held in Cordoba, it was agreed to submit the City of the Caliphs, Madinat al-Zahra, as Spain’s sole candidate for registry on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. This achievement, which we hope is backed at the upcoming session of the world Heritage Site Committee, to be held in late June or early July, was reached as major work continues on archeological research at the site.

The purpose of this conference is to increase awareness about the Western border of the Plaza de Armas (the symbolic, ceremonial entranceway to the most important part of the Alcázar of Medina Azahara, where the main sites of State administration by the Caliphs occurred), as well as well as presenting the research projects that will be continuing until 2021.

These new excavations, led by Professor Alberto Canto (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) form part of the General Research Project titled The Plaza de Armas of Madinat al-Zahra, co-directed by Félix Arnold, of the German Archeological Institute of Madrid, and by the director of the Archeological Site, Alberto Montejo.