When we left the Palais Bahia, we found ourselves in the Marrakesh Kasbah, a citadel and palace district on the south side of the city, dating from the time of the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur (r. 1184–1199). Wending our way through the picturesque streets, we shortly came to the Place Moulay Yazid, the site of the Kasbah Mosque, built by Yaqub al-Mansur to serve as the main mosque of the governing elite. It rivals the more famous Koutoubia Mosque, located not far away, which we did not visit. Both mosques are considered prime examples of Moroccan mosque architecture; the Koutoubia has the taller minaret, at 77 metres (253 ft), but they are quite similar in appearance.
In the late 16th century – the exact date is not recorded – a gunpowder explosion in a nearby store severely damaged the Kasbah Mosque. At that time Morocco was ruled by the Saadi dynasty, whose reigning sultan, Abdallah al-Ghalib Billah (r. 1557-1574), undertook extensive repairs to the Kasbah Mosque; it is thought that the restoration work resulted in extensive changes to the interior of the mosque, reflecting Saadian tastes and preferences. This did not matter to us, since as infidels we were not permitted to go inside, and the exterior appearance apparently remained little affected, with one major exception.
The exception was the result of the construction of a necropolis for the Saadi rulers, right up against the qibla (southeastern, in this case) wall of the mosque. It consists of two mausoleums, where the members of the ruling family were interred, as well as an exterior cemetery where tombs of the lesser dignitaries are located. The first mausoleum was begun by Abdallah al-Ghalib himself, who is buried there, along with his father, Muhammad al-Shaykh, the founder of the Saadian dynasty. This is now known as the Eastern Mausoleum. The next Saadian sultan, Ahmad al-Mansur (r. 1578-1603), a brother of al-Ghalib, greatly expanded and embellished the Eastern Mausoleum, adding two rectangular loggia rooms on its eastern and western sides, as well as a large rectangular room known as the Grand Chamber on the southern side. He had his mother buried in the Eastern Mausoleum, next to her husband, Muhammad al-Shaykh. For himself, al-Mansur built what is now known as the Western Mausoleum, where he was buried upon his death in 1603. Unlike the mosque, we were not excluded from the Saadian Tombs, and we went through them, but because of lighting issues I was only able to obtain one decent photo of the interior, a shot of the Grand Chamber.
After touring the Saadian Tombs, we needed a rest stop, which we took in a nearby shop where various Moroccan artifacts, most notably rugs, were for sale. The vendors rolled out a number of large and beautiful rugs to display in an effort to seduce us into buying them, and I would have been tempted to do so had we not already, on our previous trip to Turkey in 2006, acquired a lovely rug which we had never dared to put on the floor because we were afraid our dogs and cats would not accord it sufficient respect; and we hadn’t been able to put it on the wall either because we couldn’t find enough space. (It now languishes in my observatory, where there is no room to put it on the floor or wall there either.) So we merely relaxed and rested up during our sojourn in the shop, and looked at some of the other wares, which were also tempting but not irresistible.
Having rested up a bit, we resumed our stroll through the Kasbah, which took us next to the most rigorous and challenging venue of the day, the great marketplace of the Jemaa el-Fnaa, the subject of the next post.