Almoravid Koubba
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Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, dating to the 11th century.
The Almoravid Koubba is next to the Museum of Marrakech
Marrakech Museum
The Museum of Marrakech is a museum in the old center of Marrakech, Morocco.The museum is housed in the Dar Menebhi Palace, built at the end of the 19th century by Mehdi Menebhi. The palace was carefully restored by the Omar Benjelloun Foundation and converted into a museum in 1997...
and about 40 meters south of the mosque of Ben Youssef. It is the only remaining example of Almoravid architecture in Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
. It was built in 1117, was restructured in the sixteenth and nineteenth century, was rediscovered in 1948 and excavated in 1952, after having being buried beneath one of the outbuildings of the Ben Youssef Mosque. The dome was once used for ablutions before prayer (relying on the revolutionary hydraulics of khettaras, drainage systems), and also had a system of toilets, showers, and faucets for drinking water. It belonged to an Almoravid mosque, now long gone. The dome is on top of a rectangular bassin. The interior is richly decorated with floral patterns (pine cones, palms and acanthus leaves) and calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy, colloquially known as Perso-Arabic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting, or calligraphy, and by extension, of bookmaking, in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. This art form is based on the Arabic script, which for a long time was used by all...
. The epigraphic decoration, which covers the frames and borders, is noteworthy for the fact that the foundation inscription is the oldest inscription in cursive Maghrebi script
Maghrebi script
Maghrebi script is a cursive form of the Arabic alphabet influenced by Kufic letters that developed in the Maghreb and later in Spain, particularly Andalusia.The Maghribi script can be divided in five other sub/scripts:...
in North Africa. Materials used are marble and cedar wood
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
. At the entrance and at the top of the prayer room is the inscription:
The inscription refers to the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, and gives hommage to Ali ibn Yusuf
Ali ibn Yusuf
Ali ibn Yusuf was the 5th Almoravid king he reigned 1106–1143.-Biography:Ali was recognized as the heir of his father Yusuf ibn Tashfin in 1102. He succeeded his father upon his death in 1106. Ali ruled from Morocco and appointed his brother Tamin ibn Yusuf as governor of Al-Andalus...
, the patron of the building.
Sources
- Hoag, John, Islamic Architecture. New York: Rizzoli, 47-49, 1987.
- Terasse, H., "L'Art de l'empire Almoravide, ses sources et son évolution", Studia Islamica, III, 1955.
- Deverdun, G., Marrakech, des origines à 1912, Rabat, 1959, p. 105.
- Deverdun, G., Inscriptions arabes de Marrakech, Rabat, 1956, pp. 26–30.
- Marçais, G., L'architecture musulmane d'Occident, Paris, 1954, p. 200.
- Meunié, J. and Terrasse, H., Nouvelles recherches archéologiques à Marrakech, Paris, 1957.