 Architects, artists and craftsmen came from the Orient to construct cities like Medina Azahara, whose splendour couldn't have been imagined by the European kingdoms of the era.The most outstanding construction of the Umayyad Córdoba is the Great Mosque, built in consecutive stages by Abd ar-Rahman I, Abd ar-Rahman II, Al-Hakam II and Al-Mansur.The Caliphate disappeared and was split into several small kingdoms called taifas.