A priceless treasure in Cordoba: Over 8,000 Almohad dirhams are being displayed for the first time.
News for coin enthusiasts and lovers of Andalusian history: The Cordoba Archaeological Museum is exhibiting, for the first time, the complete "La Cava" treasure, discovered in Brihuega, Cordoba, in 1959. This treasure is one of the largest collections of Almohad silver dirhams known.
Today, the treasure still contains 8544 pieces, weighing approximately 10 kilograms of silver, divided into three categories: dirhams, half-dirhams, and quarter-dirhams. Studies suggest that the original collection may have contained around 12,000 pieces before a portion was lost.
Almohad dirhams are known for their distinctive square shape, the absence of a mint date and mint name, and religious inscriptions associated with the Almohad dynasty – on the obverse, phrases of the oneness of God, and on the reverse, "Allah is our Lord, Muhammad is our messenger, and the Mahdi is our Imam."
The treasure was found hidden inside four ceramic containers in a suburb that includes a cemetery. It is believed that its concealment was related to the looting of Cordoba by Ferdinand III in 1225, before the city's final fall in 1236. If this dating is correct, the collection is purely Almohad, without any mixing of later Nasrid or Marinid coins.
The exhibition is part of a temporary exhibition on Almohad Cordoba, commemorating the 900th anniversary of the birth of Ibn Rushd, and will run until June 21st. This is a rare opportunity to see a treasure of this size and statistical value for numismatists.
Source: Al-Ahram Gate.
Today, the treasure still contains 8544 pieces, weighing approximately 10 kilograms of silver, divided into three categories: dirhams, half-dirhams, and quarter-dirhams. Studies suggest that the original collection may have contained around 12,000 pieces before a portion was lost.
Almohad dirhams are known for their distinctive square shape, the absence of a mint date and mint name, and religious inscriptions associated with the Almohad dynasty – on the obverse, phrases of the oneness of God, and on the reverse, "Allah is our Lord, Muhammad is our messenger, and the Mahdi is our Imam."
The treasure was found hidden inside four ceramic containers in a suburb that includes a cemetery. It is believed that its concealment was related to the looting of Cordoba by Ferdinand III in 1225, before the city's final fall in 1236. If this dating is correct, the collection is purely Almohad, without any mixing of later Nasrid or Marinid coins.
The exhibition is part of a temporary exhibition on Almohad Cordoba, commemorating the 900th anniversary of the birth of Ibn Rushd, and will run until June 21st. This is a rare opportunity to see a treasure of this size and statistical value for numismatists.
Source: Al-Ahram Gate.
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