The fourth lesson in a 22 lesson course on Monuments of Islamic Architecture developed by Professors Gulru Necipoglu and David Roxburgh at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University. This lesson looks comparatively at the Mosque of Córdoba in relation to near contemporary prototypes in terms of morphology (building components: domes, arcades, different kinds of roofing), plan, construction techniques, and decoration. Second, this lesson will discuss Al-Hakam II’s refurbishment from 962 to 969 and the ways that they assert an ideology of Umayyad victory. Third, the palace at Madinat al-Zahra was built 3 miles outside of Córdoba as the new administrative and royal seat of the Umayyad caliph.