The next stop, on my discovery of Marrakech, was at the Koutoubia mosque, 3 kilometres from the Menara Gardens and just about 300 metres from the Jemaa el-Fna...
A map of the area...
The minaret of the mosque has come to be recognised as a key landmark of the city and is visible from quite a distance, some say as far as 29 kilometres away...
The 77 metre tall sandstone minaret is designed in Almohad style and was originally covered with Marrakshi pink plaster, but in the 1990s, experts opted to expose the original stone work and removed the plaster...
The cultural significance of the minaret is well recognised by the city and the law prohibits the construction of any high rise buildings, above the height of a palm tree, to be built around the Koutoubia...
The first mosque was built here in the mid-1100s by the Almohad dynasty. This initial mosque was rebuilt under the Almohad Caliph Yacoub El-Mansour, as it was realized halfway through construction that the mihrab (prayer niche) was misaligned and was not oriented towards Mecca. Thereafter, it underwent many changes until the end of the 12th century, when the Andalusians defeated the Almohad dynasty...
The first mosque was completed while the second mosque was still undergoing construction. The second mosque was built identical to the first except for its orientation. While in the first mosque, the orientation of the mihrab was 5 degrees out of alignment with respect to the direction towards Mecca, when the second mosque was completed in 1190, it was realised that the orientation was 10 degrees off, thus actually further out of alignment with Mecca than the first mosque. But it survived, while the first mosque decayed away...
Over the years the Koutoubia became the centre of Marrakech, with the Jama el Fna right behind it. During French occupation, the network of roads was developed with the mosque as the central landmark. And the original mosque got the name Koutoubia, or the bookseller's mosque, reflecting the bookselling trade that was practiced in the nearby souk.
A lovely garden around the Koutoubia...
And the palms here give the place quite an exotic feel...
Zooming in on the intricate design of the minaret and the spire...
The minaret is topped by a 8-metre tall spire, with gilded copper orbs, decreasing in size towards the top, a traditional style of Morocco. There are multiple legends about the orbs. One such legend states that these were originally made of pure gold, and there were at one time only three of them, the fourth having been donated by the wife of Yaqub al-Mansur as penance for breaking her fast for three hours, one day during Ramzan. She had her golden jewelry melted down to form the fourth globe...
Another version of the legend is that the balls were originally made entirely of gold fashioned from the jewelry of the wife of Saadian Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur...
A cemetery next to the Koutoubia...
Moving on to the next stop...
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