It was in the central pavilion of the southern terrace, located in the central axis of the great medina, that visitors and guests awaited the Caliph's audience. Beforehand, they would have entered through the so-called Puerta de las Bóvedas (Gate of the Vaults), crossing some 200 m of gardens situated along the line of a walled enclosure that led to the Suda Gate, which gave access to the residence of the governor of the city, the first to receive distinguished visitors and to accompany them on their visit. This southern terrace also housed the Dar al-Mulk or Royal House or House of Power, which was so named because it housed royal personages and was also the seat of the council of viziers or ministers (Castejón & Martínez de Arizala, 1976).

On the upper roof or as-Satih al-Mumárrad was the set of three large kibli halls that formed the noble part of the medina where the most important events of the Caliphate's court took place, such as the swearing-in of new sovereigns, the arrival of ambassadors and other events of the Caliphate court of Cordoba. Special mention should also be made of the room, which, in 1912, was named by its excavator, Ricardo Velázquez Bosco (1923), the Hall of Ambassadors.

In the centre of the large upper terrace was the Throne Room - the private room of the Caliph - which was also called the Golden Room, described as a building with eight doors, whose arches were made of ebony and ivory, on the front of which was another small pavilion called "the qubaila (cupola), which housed a basin filled with mercury, on whose surface the sun's rays were reflected on the upper construction, which seemed to rotate with the reflection" (Castejón & Martínez de Arizala (1976, p. 38).

At the easternmost end of this great terrace was the Máyalis al-Xarki hall, also called Almunis, which, according to Castejón & Martínez de Arizala (1976), was the favourite hall of al-Hakam II, who received numerous ambassadors there during his reign and residence in this extraordinary palatine city (Manzano Moreno, 2019).

Additionally, as part of the various spaces and rooms of Medina Azahara, there were also the royal workshops or trade houses (Castejón & Martínez de Arizala, 1976). These included pottery and ceramics, both domestic and everyday, and luxury ceramics, among which the green-manganese from Medina Azahara was particularly noteworthy, as well as the so-called "tirazes" or palatine workshops for making embroidery and precious fabrics, generally worked silk intended to adorn the costumes of princes and distinguished persons of al-Andalus (González Arévalo, 2024).

The Caliphate ivory carving califal, workshops also stood out, where pieces such as knobs, jewellery boxes, ointments, and toiletries were usually manufactured. Among these, chests, elephant ivory urns, also known as ebonised boxes, were particularly noteworthy (Martín Benito & Regueras Grande, 2003).

These chests featured profuse work on the ivory as a result of ataurique (a decorative technique characteristic of Caliphate art in Cordoba), basada en motivos vegetales estilizados, representaciones de animales, escenas humanas, representations of animals and human scenes, including extensive dedications in Kufic inscriptions (Castejón & Martínez de Arizala, 1976).based on stylised plant motifs, It is in these ivory carving workshops that our main piece was made: the Pyxis of Zamora, also known as the Pyxis of Subh or the Pyxis of al-Hakan II.