Kutubiyya Mosque

{{Short description|Mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Kutubiyya Mosque | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Marokko0112 (retouched).jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | religious_affiliation = Sunni Islam | tradition = | sect = | district = | prefecture = | province = | region = | deity = | rite = | festival =  | organisational_status =  | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | consecration_year = | functional_status = Active | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | location = | locale = | municipality = Marrakesh | cercle = | state = | country = Morocco | map_type = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_relief = | map_caption = | mapframe = yes | grid_name = | grid_position = | sector = | territory = | administration = | coordinates = {{coord|31.624124|-7.993541|type:landmark_region:MA|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = | heritage_designation = | architect = | architecture_type = Mosque | architecture_style = Moorish (Almohad) | founded_by = Abd al-Mu'min | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = | groundbreaking = 1147 (first mosque) | year_completed = Between 1158 and 1195 (current mosque) | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = 1 | minaret_height = 77 m | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = brick, sandstone, rubble masonry, wood | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | delisted1_date = | website = | module =  | footnotes = }}

The '''Kutubiyya Mosque''' or '''Koutoubia Mosque''' ({{Langx|ar|جامع الكتبية}} {{IPA|ar|ˈdʒaːmiʕu‿lkutuˈbijːa(h)}}){{efn|The mosque's name is also variably rendered as Jami' al-Kutubiyah, Kutubiya Mosque, or Kutubiyyin Mosque.<ref name="Arch" />}} is the largest mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco.<ref name=":126">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=101 |language=fr}}</ref> It is located in the southwest medina quarter of Marrakesh, near the Jemaa el-Fnaa market place, and is flanked by large gardens.

The mosque was founded in 1147 by the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min right after he conquered Marrakesh from the Almoravids. A second version of the mosque was entirely rebuilt by Abd al-Mu'min around 1158, with Ya'qub al-Mansur possibly finalizing construction of the minaret around 1195.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=172–194 |language=fr}}</ref> This second mosque is the structure that stands today. It is an important example of Almohad architecture and of Moroccan mosque architecture generally.<ref name=":2" /> The minaret tower, {{Convert|77|m}} in height, is decorated with varying geometric arch motifs and topped by a spire and metal orbs. It likely inspired other buildings such as the Giralda of Seville and the Hassan Tower of Rabat, which were built shortly after in the same era.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Ewert|first=Christian|title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=1992|isbn=0870996371|editor-last=Dodds|editor-first=Jerrilynn D.|location=New York|pages=85–95|chapter=The Architectural Heritage of Islamic Spain in North Africa}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=306–314 |isbn=9780748646821 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":02">Hattstein, Markus and Delius, Peter (eds.) ''Islam: Art and Architecture''. h.f.ullmann.</ref> The minaret is also considered an important landmark and symbol of Marrakesh.<ref name="Gregg2007">{{cite book|last=Gregg|first=Gary S.|title=Culture and Identity in a Muslim Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iwajxJo_DMAC&pg=PA62|access-date=7 October 2012|date=15 February 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-531003-0|page=62}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=101–102, 238–243 |language=fr}}</ref>

== Etymology == The mosque's name derives from the Arabic word ''kutubiyyin'' ({{lang|ar|كُتُبيين}}), which means "booksellers".<ref name="nytimes" /> The Koutoubia Mosque, or Bookseller's Mosque, reflects the bookselling trade practised in the nearby souk.<ref name="nytimes" /> At one time{{when|date=September 2023}} as many as 100 book vendors worked in the streets at the base of the mosque.<ref name="Clammer 2009">{{cite book|last=Clammer|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kkl5d8NRCOEC&q=Koutoubia+Mosque&pg=PA299|title=Morocco|publisher=Lonely Planet|year=2009|isbn=9781741049718|page=299|access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="TimeOut 2007" /><ref name="Humphrys 2010" />

==Geography== [[File:ETH-BIB-Marktplatz von Marrakech, Place Dyema el Fna mit Koutoubia im Hintergrund, das Wahrzeichen maurischer Baukunst-Tschadseeflug 1930-31-LBS MH02-08-0306.tif|left|thumb|Jemaa el-Fnaa with the Kutubiyya's minaret in the distance (circa 1930–31).]] [[File:La Koubba de Lalla Zohra (Marrakech, Maroc) (50965616832).jpg|thumb|The Koubba of Lalla Zohra and the plaza in front of the mosque]] The mosque is located about {{Convert|200|m}} west of the city's the Jemaa El Fna souq, a prominent market place which has existed since the city's establishment.<ref name="TimeOut 2007">{{cite book |last= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XnPJ8_eOp4QC&q=Koutoubia+Mosque&pg=PA68 |title=Time Out Marrakech: Essaouira and the High Atlas |publisher=Time Out Guides |year=2007 |isbn=9781846700194 |page=69 |access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref> It is situated on the Avenue Mohammed V, opposite Place de Foucauld. During French occupation, the network of roads was developed with the mosque as the central landmark, in the ''ville nouvelle''.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|url=http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/africa/morocco/marrakesh/39727/koutoubia-mosque/attraction-detail.html|title=Koutoubia Mosque|access-date=5 October 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 October 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119002626/http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/africa/morocco/marrakesh/39727/koutoubia-mosque/attraction-detail.html|archive-date=19 November 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> To the west and south of the mosque is a notable rose garden, and across Avenue Houmman-el-Fetouaki is the small mausoleum of the Almoravid emir Yusuf ibn Tashfin, one of the great builders of Marrakesh, consisting of a simple crenelated structure.<ref name="TimeOut 2007"/>

In the mosque's esplanade, which backs onto Jemaa el Fna, the ruins of the first Kutubiyya Mosque can be seen.<ref name="Humphrys 2010">{{cite book|last=Humphrys|first=Darren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QK6vvWTq8YC&q=Koutoubia+Mosque&pg=PT111|title=Frommer's Morocco|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2010|isbn=9780470560228|access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref> A part of the perimeter of the Ksar al-Hajjar, the original stone fortress built in 1070 by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, the Almoravid founder of the city, was also uncovered on the northern side of the original mosque. Also visible today at the northeast corner of these ruins and in other areas around the adjacent plaza are various remains attributed to the palace of Ali ibn Yusuf, built next to the fortress and completed in 1126, before being demolished by the Almohads to make way for their new mosque.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=91–98 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":124">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=212–213 |language=fr}}</ref> Directly east of the current mosque is a 19th-century walled residence known as Dar Moulay Ali, which now serves as the French consulate.<ref name=":125">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=291 |language=fr}}</ref>

Also on the same esplanade is a small white domed building, the '''Koubba (or Qubba) of Lalla Zohra'''. This is the tomb of Fatima Zohra bint al-Kush (also called Lalla Zohra), a female mystic who died in the early 17th century and was buried here near the mosque.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=428–429 |language=fr}}</ref>

==History== === Almohad conquest and reform of Marrakesh === The city of Marrakesh was founded around 1070 by the Almoravid dynasty to be their capital, but was captured in 1147 by the Almohads under their leader Abd al-Mu'min.<ref name=":232">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=337, 341 |isbn=9780748646821 |language=en}}</ref> While the Almohads decided to make Marrakesh their capital too, they did not want any trace of religious monuments built by the Almoravids, their staunch enemies, as they considered them heretics.<ref name=":23" /> They reportedly demolished all the mosques in the city, including the main mosque, the Ben Youssef Mosque, arguing that the Almoravid mosques were not aligned with the proper ''qibla'' (direction of prayer).<ref name=":23" />

Since the former Almoravid grand mosque (i.e. the original Ben Youssef Mosque) was already closely integrated into the surrounding urban fabric, it was not practical for the Almohads to rebuild an entirely new mosque with a significantly different orientation on the same site.<ref name=":14" /> It's possible that they did not even demolish the mosque but merely left it derelict.<ref name=":23" /> The Almohads may have also wished to have the city's main mosque located closer to the kasbah and royal palaces, as was common in other Islamic cities.<ref name=":23" /> As a result, Abd al-Mu'min decided to build the new mosque right next to the former Almoravid kasbah, the Ksar el-Hajjar, which became the site of the new Almohad royal palace, located west of the city's main square (what is today the Jemaa el-Fnaa).<ref name=":127">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=241–242 |language=fr}}</ref>

==== Almohad versus Almoravid ''qibla'' alignment ==== The issue of the ''qibla'' alignment of the Kutubiyya and other Almohad mosques (and of medieval Islamic mosques generally) is a complex one which is often misunderstood.<ref name=":123">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=120–131 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> The justification given by the Almohads for the destruction of existing Almoravid mosques was that their ''qibla'' was aligned too far toward the east, which the Almohads judged to be incorrect as they preferred a tradition that existed in the western Islamic world (the Maghreb and al-Andalus) according to which the ''qibla'' should be oriented toward the south instead.<ref name=":235">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=307 |isbn=9780748646821 |language=en}}</ref> This alignment was actually further away from the "true" ''qibla'' used in modern mosques everywhere today,<ref name=":123" /> which points directly towards Mecca (i.e. towards the shortest possible path across the Earth's surface between the mosque and Mecca).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Sacred Geography of Islam |encyclopedia=Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMOQZfrZq-EC&pg=PA161 |last=King |first=David A. |date=2004 |editor1-last=Koetsier |editor1-first=Teun |pages=161–178 |isbn=978-0-08-045735-2 |editor2-first=Luc |editor2-last=Bergmans}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Almakky |first1=Ghazy |last2=Snyder |first2=John |year=1996 |title=Calculating an Azimuth from One Location to Another A Case Study in Determining the Qibla to Makkah |journal=Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=29–36 |doi=10.3138/C567-3003-1225-M204 |issn=0317-7173}}</ref> ''Qibla'' orientations varied throughout the medieval period of Morocco, but the Almohads generally followed an orientation between 154° and 159° (numbers expressed as the azimuth from the true north), whereas the "true" ''qibla'' in Marrakesh is 91° (nearly due east).<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Bonine|first=Michael E.|date=1990|title=The Sacred Direction and City Structure: A Preliminary Analysis of the Islamic Cities of Morocco|journal=Muqarnas|volume=7|pages=50–72|doi=10.2307/1523121|jstor=1523121}}</ref><ref name=":123" /> This true ''qibla'' was eventually adopted in modern times and is evident in more recent mosques – including the current Ben Youssef Mosque, rebuilt in 1819 with a ''qibla'' of 88° (slightly too far north but very close to 91°).<ref name=":123" />

Medieval Muslims did possess sufficient mathematical knowledge to calculate a reasonably accurate "true" ''qibla''.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":123" /> A more easterly ''qibla'' orientation (pointing approximately toward Mecca) was already evident in the royal mosque of Madinat al-Zahra (just outside Cordoba) built later in the 10th century, as well as in the orientation of the original Almoravid Ben Youssef Mosque (founded in 1126), estimated to be 103°.<ref name=":128">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=122–129 |language=fr}}</ref>

The Almohads, who rose to power after these periods, apparently chose a ''qibla'' orientation which they saw as more ancient or traditional. Whether their interpretation of the ''qibla'' was a true and rigorously followed directive or a mostly symbolic argument to differentiate themselves from the Almoravids is still questioned by scholars.<ref name=":235" /><ref name=":123" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last1=Lintz|first1=Yannick|title=Le Maroc médiéval: Un empire de l'Afrique à l'Espagne|last2=Déléry|first2=Claire|last3=Tuil Leonetti|first3=Bulle|publisher=Louvre éditions|year=2014|isbn=9782350314907|location=Paris|pages=320–324}}</ref> The Almohad ''qibla'' was similar to the ''qibla'' orientation of the prestigious Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Qarawiyyin Mosque of Fes, both founded at an early period in the late 8th to 9th centuries.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=90–169, 194–222 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> This traditional ''qibla'' was based on a saying (''hadith'') of Muhammad which stated that "What is between the east and west is a ''qibla''" (most likely in reference to his time in Medina, north of Mecca), which thus legitimized southern alignments.<ref name=":129">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=124 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":1423">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=92 |language=fr}}</ref> This practice may also have sought to emulate the orientation of the walls of the rectangular Kaaba structure inside the Great Mosque of Mecca, based on another tradition which considered the different sides of the Kaaba as being associated with different parts of the Muslim world. In this tradition, the northwest face of the Kaaba was associated with al-Andalus and, accordingly, the Great Mosque of Cordoba was oriented toward the southeast, as if facing the Kaaba's northwestern façade, with its main axis parallel to the main axis of the Kaaba structure (which is oriented from southeast to northwest).<ref name=":5" /> This architectural alignment was typically achieved by using astronomical alignments to reproduce the appropriate orientation of the Kaaba itself, whose minor axis is aligned with the direction of sunrise at the summer solstice.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=King|first=David A.|date=1995|title=The Orientation of Medieval Islamic Religious Architecture and Cities|journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy|volume=26|issue=3|pages=253–274|doi=10.1177/002182869502600305|bibcode=1995JHA....26..253K |s2cid=117528323}}</ref><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":123" />

=== The first Kutubiyya Mosque === thumb|Kutubiyya Mosque, with remains of the first mosque in foreground|alt= The most commonly accepted chronology of the mosque's construction is the one originally proposed by French scholars Henri Terrasse and Henri Basset during their study of Almohad monuments in the first half of the 20th century, with further refinements by Gaston Deverdun in his 1959 book about Marrakesh.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=Almagro |first1=Antonio |last2=Jiménez |first2=Alfonso |date=2022-10-07 |title=The Kutubiyya Mosque of Marrakesh Revisited |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/39/1/article-p255_10.xml |journal=Muqarnas Online |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=255–288 |doi=10.1163/22118993-00391P11 |s2cid=253138713 |issn=0732-2992|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to this view, Abd al-Mu'min began construction of the first Kutubiyya Mosque in 1147, the same year that he had conquered the city.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":23" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=127–130 |language=en}}</ref> The date of the first mosque's completion is unconfirmed, but is estimated to have been around 1157, when it is known with some certainty that prayers were conducted in the mosque, as it was in 1157 that a celebrated copy of the Qur'an attributed to the hand of Caliph Uthman, previously kept in the Great Mosque of Cordoba, was transferred here.<ref name=":25">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=183–184 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":1210">{{Cite book |last=Wilbaux |first=Quentin |title=La médina de Marrakech: Formation des espaces urbains d'une ancienne capitale du Maroc |publisher=L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=2747523888 |location=Paris |pages=242 |language=fr}}</ref>

A more recent (2022) study by scholars Antonio Almagro and Alfonso Jiménez has argued for a reinterpretation of Arabic historical sources and proposes an alternative chronology.<ref name=":10" /> They argue that Abd al-Mu'min's commission of the new mosque was not related to the city's conquest but could have been inspired instead by the transfer of Uthman's Qur'an in 1157. In their view, construction on the mosque began in May 1158 and was completed later that same year, a rapid construction that was possible thanks to the construction methods employed (brick and rammed earth) and to the reuse of materials available nearby.<ref name=":10" />

[[File:Koutoubia first mosque mihrab.jpg|thumb|Remains of the mihrab area of the first Kutubiyya Mosque, on the exterior northern wall of the current mosque]] Although no longer standing today, the first mosque's layout is well-known thanks to modern excavations starting in 1923.<ref name=":2" /> The excavated foundations of the mosque, as well as the outline of its mihrab and ''qibla'' wall, are still visible today on the second mosque's northwestern side.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":1" />

Adjoined to the walls of the former Almoravid kasbah, the mosque may have been built on top of some of the former Almoravid palace's annexes and maybe even over a royal cemetery or mausoleum.<ref name=":211">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=172 |language=fr}}</ref> The new mosque was likely connected to the adjacent royal palace via a passage (''sabat'') which allowed the Almohad caliph to enter the prayer hall directly from his palace without having to pass through the public entrances (not unlike a similar passage that existed between the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the nearby Umayyad palace).<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":23" /> This passage likely passed through the imam's chamber behind the southeastern ''qibla'' wall and therefore may have disappeared when the second mosque was built over this area.<ref name=":2" />

[[File:المنبر المرابطي 21 44 51 006000 (retouched).jpg|alt=|thumb|The Almoravid minbar, commissioned by Ali ibn Yusuf in 1137 for his great mosque in Marrakesh (the Ben Youssef Mosque), now partially restored and held at the Badi Palace|left]] At some point, Abd al-Mu'min also transferred to his new mosque the Almoravid minbar of the Ben Youssef Mosque, originally commissioned by Ali ibn Yusuf from a workshop in Cordoba.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Jonathan |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Minbar_from_the_Kutubiyya_Mosque |title=The Minbar from the Kutubiyya Mosque |last2=Toufiq |first2=Ahmed |last3=Carboni |first3=Stefano |last4=Soultanian |first4=Jack |last5=Wilmering |first5=Antoine M. |last6=Minor |first6=Mark D. |last7=Zawacki |first7=Andrew |last8=Hbibi |first8=El Mostafa |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ediciones El Viso, S.A., Madrid; Ministère des Affaires Culturelles, Royaume du Maroc |year=1998 |isbn=9780870998546 |language=en |author-link=Jonathan Bloom |author-link2=Ahmed Toufiq}}</ref> Modern archeological excavations have also confirmed the existence in the first Kutubiyya Mosque of a near-legendary mechanism which allowed the wooden ''maqsura'' (a screen separating the caliph and his entourage from the rest of the crowd during prayers) to rise from a trench in the ground seemingly by itself, and then retract in the same manner when the caliph left.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":0" /> Another semi-automated mechanism also allowed the minbar to emerge and move forward from its storage chamber (next to the ''mihrab'') seemingly by itself. The exact functioning of the mechanism is unknown, but may have relied on a hidden system of counterweights.<ref name=":0" />

The new Almohad mosque, with its objects from Cordoba and its proximity next to the palace, was thus imbued with great political and religious symbolism. It was closely associated with the ruling Almohad dynasty while also making subtle references to the ancient Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba, whose great mosque was a model for much of subsequent Moroccan and Moorish architecture.<ref name=":234">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=281–284, 306–308, 314 |isbn=9780748646821 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":1422">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=120–126 |language=fr}}</ref>

alt=|thumb|The possible remains of a stone tower or gate, identified as part of the Almoravid palace-fortress, the Ksar al-Hajjar, and possibly as the base of the first Kutubiyya Mosque's minaret It is unclear if the first Kutubiyya Mosque had a minaret, though some historians have suggested that a former bastion or gate of the Almoravid kasbah may have been reused for the mosque's first minaret.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=179 |language=fr}}</ref> Fragments of such a structure are visible today at the northeastern corner of the first mosque. They were identified by French archeologist Jacques Meunié as the remnants of a gate (referred to as ''Bab 'Ali'' or ''Bab 'Ali ibn Yusuf'') belonging to the palatial expansion of the Almoravid kasbah by Ali ibn Yusuf.<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Richard |title=A practical guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco |publisher=The Baraka Press |year=1981 |location=Charlottesville, VA |pages=51 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> This structure might have been converted into the mosque's first minaret or served as the minaret's base.<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":122" /> The remains of this minaret may have been visible even as late as the beginning of the 19th century, when a drawing of the area by Ali Bey el Abbassi appears to show a second tower standing north of the present-day Kutubiyya minaret.<ref name=":26" /> Almagro and Jiménez have argued that the remnants visible today belong to the first Almohad minaret and that it was built over a corner tower of the Almoravid fortress rather than a palace gate.<ref name=":10" />

=== The second (current) Kutubiyya Mosque === {{Multiple image | align = | direction = vertical | total_width = 220 | image1 = ETH-BIB-Marrakech- La Koutoubia-Tschadseeflug 1930-31-LBS MH02-08-0300.tif | alt1 = black-and-white photo of the mosque and its minaret-tower, seen from ground level | caption1 = The mosque circa 1930-1931 | image2 = ETH-BIB-Marrakech aus 200 m Höhe, im Vordergrund- La Koutoubia-Tschadseeflug 1930-31-LBS MH02-08-0446.tif | alt2 = Aerial view with the mosque and its minaret tower, with the mosque building covered by rows of sloped roofs, a courtyard visible, and other structures and open spaces in the surrounding area | caption2 = Aerial view of the mosque and its surrounding circa 1930-31. The building and gardens directly east (on the lower right) of the mosque are the Dar Moulay Ali. | width = 220 }} At some point, Abd al-Mu'min decided to build a second mosque directly adjoined to the southeastern (''qibla'') side of the first mosque. The reasons for this unusual decision are still not fully understood.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> The most popular historical narrative asserts that Abd al-Mu'min discovered, possibly during its construction, that the initial mosque was misaligned with the ''qibla'' (presumably according to Almohad criteria).<ref name=":1" /> The second mosque is indeed aligned slightly further to the south, at an azimuth of 159° or 161° from the true north, compared to the 154° alignment of the first mosque, which actually makes the second mosque 5 to 7 degrees further out of alignment with respect to the "true" or modern ''qibla''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":14" /> Why this slightly different alignment was preferred is unclear; it may be that the first mosque was aligned with the walls of the Ksar el-Hajjar and that this was judged sufficient at the time, but that the alignment of the second mosque more closely matched that of the Tinmal Mosque (an important Almohad religious site) which had been built in the meantime.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":14" /> Other possible motivations for the construction of the second mosque may have been to accommodate a growing population,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":10" /> to make it more impressive by doubling its size,<ref name=":237">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=312 |isbn=978-0-7486-4682-1 |language=en}}</ref> or even as an excuse to make one of the mosques exclusive to the ruling elites while the other was used by the general population.<ref name=":237" />

[[File:Minaret de Marrakech.jpg|thumb|upright|The minaret tower has a main shaft and a secondary tower above it with a dome, and a finial of four orbs|alt=|left]] The construction dates of the second mosque are also not firmly established. One historical source, originally written by Ibn Tufayl and reported by al-Maqqari, claims that Abd al-Mu'min began construction on a mosque in May 1158 (Rabi' al-Thani 553 AH) and that it was completed with the inauguration of the first Friday prayers in September (Sha'ban) of the same year.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" /> Because this construction period seems implausibly short, it is likely that construction either began before May 1158 or (perhaps more likely) continued after September 1158.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" />{{Efn|In their 2022 study, Almagro and Jiménez interpret this source as referring to the first mosque, not the second mosque. They argue that the second mosque was begun sometime before 1163.<ref name=":10" />}}

The minaret of the mosque, which is visible today, is also not conclusively dated. Some historical sources attribute it to Abd al-Mu'min (who reigned up until 1163) while others attribute it to Ya'qub al-Mansur (who reigned between 1184 and 1199).<ref name=":2" /> According to French scholar Gaston Deverdun and some later historians, the most likely scenario is that the minaret was begun before 1158 and largely built by Abd al-Mu'min, or at the very least designed on his commission.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":23" /> It is plausible, however, that Ya'qub al-Mansur either finished the work during his reign or that he added the small secondary "lantern" tower at its summit in 1195.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":2" />

The second Kutubiyya Mosque was built almost identical to the first except for its adjusted orientation. The layout, architectural designs, dimensions and materials used for construction were almost all the same.<ref name="Arch">{{Cite web |title=Jami' al-Kutubiyya |url=https://archnet.org/sites/1741 |access-date=December 31, 2019 |website=ArchNet |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The only architectural differences are in a few details and in the fact that the second mosque was slightly wider than the first.<ref name=":2" /> The mosque's floor plan is also slightly irregular due to the fact that its northern wall is still the old southern wall of the first mosque, which is at a slightly different angle (due to the different ''qibla'' orientation).<ref name=":14" />

The Kutubiyya Mosque, and more specifically its minaret, was the forerunner of two other structures built on the same pattern, the Hassan Tower in Rabat (a monumental mosque begun by Ya'qub al-Mansur but never finished) and the Great Mosque of Seville, Spain, whose minaret is preserved as the Giralda. It thus became one of the models for subsequent Moroccan-Andalusian architecture.<ref name=":233">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=306–323 |isbn=978-0-7486-4682-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":142">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |isbn= |location=Paris |pages= |language=fr}}</ref>

=== Abandonment of the first mosque === thumb|A fragment of the first mosque's outer wall integrated into the base of the current minaret It is not known when the first mosque was actually deserted, nor is it known for certain whether it was consciously demolished at some point or simply abandoned and allowed to deteriorate. Many scholars believe that the two mosques most likely coexisted for a time as one large mosque.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":10" /> If true, then the old ''qibla'' (southern) wall of the first mosque, which became the northern wall of the second mosque, was probably opened up in many places to allow easy circulation between the old and new buildings. This was only sealed up later, as it is today.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|128}} Additionally, the mosque's current minaret appears to have been integrated into the fabric of both mosques, as evidenced by the remains of an arcade belonging to the first mosque and still attached to the base of the minaret today.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stockstill|first=Abbey|date=2018|title=A Tale of Two Mosques: Marrakesh's Masjid al-Jamiʿ al-Kutubiyya|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/35/1/article-p65_4.xml|journal=Muqarnas Online|volume=35|issue=1|pages=65–82|doi=10.1163/22118993_03501P004|s2cid=188387747 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Deverdun, in his 1959 study of Marrakesh, suggested the possibility that the first mosque was only abandoned after Ya'qub al-Mansur built the new Kasbah, or royal citadel, further south. As part of this citadel, al-Mansur had raised the new Kasbah Mosque, completed in 1190, which subsequently served as the main mosque of the caliph and the ruling elites.<ref name=":2" /> This would have thus made the old Kutubiyya less useful – especially the first mosque, which was attached to the former, now abandoned, royal palace. It is also possible that the first Kutubiyya was dismantled in order to reuse its materials in the construction of the new kasbah and its mosque.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" />

Almagro and Jiménez, in their 2022 study, propose that both the first and second mosques continued to operate as one mosque until the 17th century.<ref name=":10" /> They suggest that in the second half of the 17th century, when the Saadi dynasty's power collapsed and Marrakesh underwent a period of decline, the mosque was neglected and fell into disrepair. When Marrakesh benefited from a revival in the second quarter of the 18th century, the second part of the mosque was restored and parts of it were rebuilt, but the older section, which was probably more severely ruined, was abandoned instead of restored. At this point, the passages that connected the two sections were sealed off, thus turning the second mosque into its own, stand-alone building, as it appears today.<ref name=":10" />

=== Modern period === thumb|View of the second mosque circa 1915, with the buried ruins of the first mosque in the foreground Little documentation exists about the mosque during the early modern period.<ref name=":10" /> Based on stylistic grounds, Almagro and Jimnez argue that the mosque's ornate wood ceilings (particularly over the central nave) date to sometime in the 'Alawi period and after the 17th century, most likely during an 18th-century restoration.<ref name=":10" /> In the 19th century, records indicate that the 'Alawi sultans Muhammad IV (r. 1859–73) and Hasan I (r. 1873–94) restored the upper part of the minaret.<ref name=":10" /> Further restoration was carried out during the 20th century.<ref name=":10" />

The mosque's minaret is featured in ''Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque'', a painting by Winston Churchill made after the 1943 Casablanca Conference.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-03-02 |title=Angelina Jolie sells Winston Churchill painting for record £7m |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56250654 |access-date=2022-03-20}}</ref> The mosque and its minaret were restored at the end of the 1990s.<ref name="Clammer 2009" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|title=Rough Guides - The Koutoubia|url=https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/morocco/marrakesh/koutoubia-around/|access-date=2020-09-11|website=Rough Guides|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2016 the mosque was fitted with solar panels, solar water heaters, and energy-efficient LED lights as part of an effort to make state-run mosques more dependent on renewable green energy.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hekking|first=Morgan|date=2020-05-20|title=Morocco's Koutoubia, As-Sounna Among World's Greenest Mosques|url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/05/303245/moroccos-koutoubia-as-sounna-among-worlds-greenest-mosques/|access-date=2020-09-11|website=Morocco World News|language=en-US}}</ref>

The mosque is still active and non-Muslims are not allowed inside. However, it is possible to visit the Tinmal Mosque, built along the same lines, which is inactive but preserved as a historic site south of Marrakesh.<ref name="Calmejane2009">{{cite book|last=Calmejane|first=Christian Beres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jz8yZsV45vwC&pg=PA87|title=American Silhouettes: A Tale of Anguish|date=20 April 2009|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=978-1-4389-5996-2|page=87|access-date=7 October 2012}}</ref>

On 8 September 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 M<sub>w</sub> damaged the mosque.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-09 |title=Historical Marrakesh mosque damaged in Morocco quake |url=https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30333076 |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=Aaj English TV |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=موسى |first=أحمد عادل |date=2023-09-09 |title=تضرر صومعة جامع الكتبية التاريخي في زلزال المغرب.. (فيديو) |url=https://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/6791785 |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=الوطن |language=ar}}</ref> Video footage during the earthquake showed the mosque's structure shaking.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tusing |first=David |date=2023-09-10 |title=Marrakesh's historic Koutoubia Mosque damaged by deadly quake |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2023/09/10/marrakech-earthquake/ |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=The National |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Kottasová |first=Ivana |date=2023-09-10 |title=Earthquake damages centuries-old sites in Marrakech but spares modern city |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/10/africa/mosque-earthquake-damage-marrakech-intl/index.html |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref> The building remained standing after the earthquake,<ref name=":9" /> but cracks have been observed in the minaret.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rahhou |first=Jihane |date=9 September 2023 |title=UNESCO Expresses Concerns Over Marrakech's Cultural Heritage After Earthquake |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/09/357579/unesco-expresses-concerns-over-marrakechs-cultural-heritage-after-earthquake |access-date=10 September 2023 |website=Morocco World News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Morocco earthquake: Chaos and pain as quake-hit areas face devastation |url=https://news.sky.com/story/morocco-earthquake-marrakech-is-still-bustling-and-chaotic-but-dig-a-little-deeper-and-there-are-scars-12958269 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=Sky News |language=en}}</ref> In March 2024, the mosque reopened after completion of renovation work.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Erraji |first=Abdellah |title=Marrakech’s Koutoubia Mosque Reopens its Doors After September Earthquake |url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2024/03/361452/marrakechs-koutoubia-mosque-reopens-its-doors-after-september-earthquake |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Morocco World News |language=en}}</ref>

==Architecture== thumb|upright=1.25|Floor plan of the mosque, including the remains of the first mosque (in lighter grey) Architectural details of the first mosque and the second mosque are almost identical except for the orientation.<ref name=":72">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=127 |language=en}}</ref> Hence, what is true of one holds true for the other, though the first mosque is now only visible as archaeological remains.<ref name="Arch" /> The mosque is a characteristic Almohad design, and its various elements resemble those of many other mosques from the same period. The mosque's floor plan is a slightly irregular quadrilateral due to the fact that its northern wall corresponds to the former southern wall of the first mosque and its different orientation. The current mosque is roughly {{Convert|90|m}} wide, {{Convert|57|m}} long on its west side, and {{Convert|66|m}} long on its east side.<ref name=":1424">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=104 |language=fr}}</ref> Aside from the minaret, the mosque is generally built in brick, although sandstone masonry is also used for parts of the outer walls.<ref name="Arch" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lakhdar|first=Kamal|title=Kutubiya Mosque|url=http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;4;en|access-date=March 10, 2021|website=Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|title=Qantara - the Kutubīyah Mosque|url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=305&lang=en|access-date=2021-03-10|website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref> The same materials and construction methods are also evident in the first mosque.<ref name=":0222">{{Cite book |last=Marçais |first=Georges |title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident |publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques |year=1954 |location=Paris |pages=202–205 |language=fr}}</ref>

===Exterior=== thumb|Gardens flank the Kutubiyya Mosque|alt= The mosque is located in a large plaza with gardens, and is floodlit at night.<ref name="Fodor 2007">{{cite book|last=Fodor|first='s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gP0WTQSGvzoC&q=Koutoubia+Mosque&pg=PA166|title=Baedeker Morocco|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|year=2007|isbn=9781400017263|access-date=5 October 2007}}</ref> The wall on the northern side of the first mosque abutted the old Almoravid fortress wall (the ''Ksar el-Hajjar''). There are eight entrances to the mosque: four on the west side and four on the east side. The eastern side faces the street where book shops were located, hence the name "Booksellers' Mosque". There is a private entrance for the imam on the south side of the mosque, leading to a door on the left side of the mihrab. Historically, the first Kutubiyya Mosque also had a private entrance next to the mihrab which was used by the ruler to enter directly into the maqsura.<ref name="Arch" /><ref name=":2" />

===Interior===

==== Courtyard (''sahn'') ==== The rectangular ''sahn'' or courtyard is in the northern part of the mosque. It is {{Convert|45|m}} wide, the same width as the nine central naves, and {{Convert|23|m}} long or deep. There is an ablution fountain at the center of the courtyard.<ref name="Arch" /> Nowadays trees are also planted in a grid pattern throughout the courtyard. The decoration is otherwise limited to the arches running along the edges of the courtyard, with some of the arches are highlighted with a polylobed molding carved around them.<ref name=":1425">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=158 |language=fr}}</ref>

==== Prayer hall ==== thumb|Horseshoe arches inside the prayer hall of the mosque|alt= The interior prayer hall is a hypostyle hall with more than 100 pillars which support rows of horseshoe arches that divide the hall into 17 parallel naves or aisles which run perpendicular to the southern wall, or roughly north to south.<ref name="Arch" /><ref name=":7" /> The pillars and arches are made of brick covered in white plaster.<ref name=":8" /> The nine naves in the middle correspond to the width of the courtyard to the north and run the length of six arches, while the four outermost naves run continuously along the east and west sides of the courtyard (corresponding to the length of four extra arches), thus extending the prayer hall around either side of the courtyard. The naves are all covered by ''berchla'' or Moroccan wood-frame ceilings on the inside and sloped green-tiled roofs on the outside.<ref name="Arch" /><ref name=":14" />

The ''mihrab'', a niche symbolizing the ''qibla'' (direction of prayer), is set in the middle of the qibla wall (the southern wall) of the prayer hall and is a central focus of its layout. The prayer hall has a "T"-plan, in that the central nave aligned with the mihrab and another transverse (i.e. perpendicular) aisle running along the qibla wall are wider than other aisles and intersect each other (thus forming a "T" within the floor plan of the mosque).<ref name=":14" /><ref name="Arch" /> This layout is found in other Almohad mosques and in all major mosques of the Maghreb for much of the Islamic period; a clear T-plan is present in the 9th-century Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, for example, and in later Moroccan mosques.<ref name=":7" /> In addition to their greater width, the central nave and the southern transverse aisle are architecturally highlighted in other ways. unlike the other naves, The central nave is covered by a series of cupola ceilings instead of a long sloped roof. The central nave, as well as the adjacent nave on either side, is split into bays by five transverse arches (i.e. arches perpendicular to the other arches). The transverse arch right in front of the mihrab, as well as the two parallel arches on either side of the mihrab, have a lambrequin profile instead of a horseshoe profile and their intrados are carved with ''muqarnas'' sculpting. Finally, the southern (or qibla) transverse aisle of the mosque is bordered on its north side by an additional row of transverse arches with a polylobed profile, setting it apart from the rest of the mosque. Elsewhere, transverse polylobed or lambrequin arches are also used to demarcate the extensions of the prayer hall on either side of the courtyard from the rest of the mosque.<ref name=":14" /><ref name="Arch" />

The southern qibla aisle is further decorated with five elaborate muqarnas cupolas: one in front of the mihrab, one at both southern corners of the prayer hall, and two more in between these (or, specifically, at the southern end of the outermost naves that intersect with the courtyard). Muqarnas consists of honeycomb or stalactite-like sculpting made up of hundreds of small niches arranged in a three-dimensional geometric composition. Although made with the same technique, the exact geometric composition of each muqarnas cupola in the mosque is slightly different. Most of the constituent niches are smooth, but eight-pointed stars are carved in the upper parts of the geometric alcoves.<ref name=":1426">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=134–149 |language=fr}}</ref>

The mihrab has a form which derives from the style established by the Great Mosque of Cordoba, although with some changes in the decorative elements.<ref name=":73">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780300218701 |location= |pages=126 |language=en}}</ref> It consists of a horseshoe arch opening leading to a miniature chamber covered by an octagonal muqarnas dome. Carved decoration covers the wall surfaces around the mihrab arch. The arch is bordered with a scalloped or polylobed molding inside a rectangular ''alfiz'' frame, with rosettes in the upper corners. Above this are five false windows forming a blind arcade, with two of the windows filled with carved arabesques. All of this is surrounded in turn by a frieze of geometric decoration.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":7" /> The sides of mihrab's opening are decorated with six engaged marble columns (three on either side) whose ornately carved capitals are spolia originating from Cordoba in al-Andalus, brought to Marrakesh either by the Almohads or by the Almoravids before them. Two doors also flank the mihrab on either side: the one on the right is for the storage room of the minbar, while the one on the left was used by the imam to enter the mosque. Both doors are also flanked with engaged columns with more spolia capitals from Al-Andalus.<ref name=":1427">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=119–126 |language=fr}}</ref>

All of these decorative and architectural elements – the muqarnas cupolas, the mihrab decoration, and the hierarchical arrangement of arches – are found in similar form and placement in the Tinmal Mosque, which was built in the same period as the Kutubiyya,<ref name=":7" /> and in many later mosques such as the 16th-century Saadian mosques of Bab Doukkala and Mouassine.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last=Salmon|first=Xavier|title=Marrakech: Splendeurs saadiennes: 1550-1650|publisher=LienArt|year=2016|isbn=9782359061826|location=Paris|pages=}}</ref>

===Minaret===

==== Overall design ==== thumb|Northeastern façade of the minaret The minaret is designed in Almohad style and was constructed in rubble masonry using sandstone.<ref name=":0223">{{Cite book |last=Marçais |first=Georges |title=L'architecture musulmane d'Occident |publisher=Arts et métiers graphiques |year=1954 |location=Paris |pages=209–210 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Qantara - the Kutubīyah Mosque's minaret|url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=994&lang=en|access-date=2021-03-10|website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref> It was historically covered with Marrakshi pink plaster, but in the 1990s, experts opted to expose the original stone work and removed the plaster.<ref name="Clammer 2009" />

The design consists of a tall square or cuboid shaft, which takes up about four fifths of its height.<ref name="Arch" /> At the top of this main shaft is an open-air platform that can reached from inside the tower. On top of this is a second, smaller square shaft, capped by a fluted dome. The full height of the minaret tower, from the ground to the top of its finial, is around {{Convert|77|m}}.<ref name=":27">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=188 |language=fr}}</ref> The main shaft measures {{Convert|55.68|m}} tall and has a square base measuring {{Convert|12.81|m}} per side.<ref name=":10" /> The second, upper shaft has a square base measuring {{Convert|6.88|m}} per side<ref name=":10" /> and its top edge (not including the dome and finial) reaches to a height of around {{Convert|69.5|m}} above the ground.<ref name=":28">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=188 |language=fr}}</ref>

The minaret's height-to-width ratio is thus slightly over 5-to-1, which marked a shift in minaret design in the Maghreb, as these proportions made the Almohad minaret taller and more slender in comparison with earlier North African examples.<ref name=":1429">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=196 |language=fr}}</ref> The Kutubiyya minaret subsequently became a model for later minarets built in the regions that passed under Almohad influence.<ref name=":1428">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=222 |language=fr}}</ref>

The tower's prominence makes it a landmark structure of Marrakesh, which is maintained by an ordinance prohibiting any high rise buildings (above the height of a palm tree) to be built around it.<ref name="TimeOut 2007" /> The ''mu'azzin'' traditionally gave the ''adhan'' from the four cardinal directions from the platform at the top of the minaret, calling the faithful to prayer.<ref name="Clammer 2009" />

==== Exterior decoration ==== {{Multiple image | align = left | direction = vertical | total_width = 275 | image1 = Koutoubia minaret west side top tier.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Koutoubia minaret south side top tier2 (retouched).jpg | caption2 = | footer = Detail of the interlacing arch motifs around the windows, as well as traces of former painted decoration in the arches on either side of the windows, including geometric motifs (top photo) and, more faintly, floral motifs (bottom photo) }}

Many embellishing features of the minaret are also found in other religious buildings in the country, such as a wide band of ceramic tiles near the top and the alternation between different but related motifs on each façade of the minaret. The main shaft is marked by panels of sunken masonry forming blind arches and blind arcades of varying designs, including lambrequin arches and intersecting polylobed arches. These are set within rectangular frames around the tower's windows. Each of the four façades has a different series of these blind arch compositions, but the topmost tier is the same on each façade, featuring a panel of four intersecting polylobed arches.<ref name=":14211">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=198–200 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Arch" />

The surface of the tower once featured polychrome decoration that was painted onto a mortar or plaster coating, highlighting some of the blind arches, niches, and spandrels. Although only traces remain today, they are one of the only surviving examples of such decoration from the Almohad period.<ref name=":14210">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=200–208 |language=fr}}</ref> The decoration is mostly executed in an ochre yellow over an ochre red background, or otherwise with a dark colour over a light background. In addition to some simple geometric motifs, the most elaborate examples are floral compositions based on a tree-of-life motif. There are also medallions containing stylized Kufic inscriptions with the words {{Transliteration|ar|al-Mulku Lillah}} ({{Langx|ar|الملک للہ|lit=Sovereignty belongs to God|links=no}}) and {{Transliteration|ar|al-'izzu Lillah}} ({{Langx|ar|العز لله|lit=Glory to God|links=no}}).<ref name=":14210" />

The white and green tiles near the top of the minaret are fastened by nails onto a wooden framework set into the masonry surface behind them.<ref name=":14212">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=200 |language=fr}}</ref> Forming a mosaic with a simple geometric pattern, this tilework is cited by Jonathan Bloom as the earliest reliably dated example of ''zellij'' in Morocco.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Jonathan |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Minbar_from_the_Kutubiyya_Mosque |title=The Minbar from the Kutubiyya Mosque |last2=Toufiq |first2=Ahmed |last3=Carboni |first3=Stefano |last4=Soultanian |first4=Jack |last5=Wilmering |first5=Antoine M. |last6=Minor |first6=Mark D. |last7=Zawacki |first7=Andrew |last8=Hbibi |first8=El Mostafa |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ediciones El Viso, S.A., Madrid; Ministère des Affaires Culturelles, Royaume du Maroc |year=1998 |isbn=9780870998546 |pages=26 |language=en |author-link=Jonathan Bloom |author-link2=Ahmed Toufiq}}</ref> [[File:Koutoubia minaret detail DSCF6414 (crop1).jpg|thumb|Detail of the upper minaret: a frieze of ''zellij'' tilework runs around the top of the main tower shaft (bottom), while the smaller second shaft (above) has ''sebka'' panels and a light-coloured geometric pattern around its corners. The finial of copper spheres crowns the top.]] Above this ''zellij'' band, the top edge of the minaret's main shaft is crowned by stepped merlons.<ref name="Arch" /> The smaller, secondary shaft of the minaret, which rises from the platform here, is decorated with polylobed arches around a pair of windows on each of its four façades, which are then surmounted by panels of ''sebka'' decoration. Around the corners of the shaft, between these panels, the surfaces are covered in a kind of limewash which is inlaid with a geometric pattern based on an eight-pointed star pattern.<ref name=":14212" />

==== Finial ==== The minaret is topped by a traditional finial ({{Transliteration|ar|jāmūr}}),<ref name=":05">{{Cite book|last=Cenival|first=P. de|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition|publisher=Brill|year=2012|editor-last=Bearman|editor-first=P.|chapter=Marrākus̲h̲|editor-last2=Bianquis|editor-first2=Th.|editor-last3=Bosworth|editor-first3=C.E.|editor-last4=van Donzel|editor-first4=E.|editor-last5=Heinrichs|editor-first5=W.P.}}</ref> a pole with three spheres decreasing in size towards the top, with the largest being {{Convert|2|m|ft}} in diameter. The spheres are made of copper plating riveted together.<ref name=":29">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=193 |language=fr}}</ref> There is a flag pole next to the copper balls forming the spire, which is used for hoisting the religious green flag of the Prophet, which the mu'azzin does every Friday and on religious occasions.{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}}

A popular legend about the orbs, of which there are variations, claims that they are made of pure gold. The legend was originally associated with the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque further south (which has a similar finial), but is nowadays often associated with the Kutubiyya instead.<ref name=":210">{{Cite book |last=Deverdun |first=Gaston |title=Marrakech: Des origines à 1912. |publisher=Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines |year=1959 |location=Rabat |pages=240 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=":05" /> One version of the legend claims that there were at one time only three of them and that the fourth was donated by the wife of Yaqub al-Mansur as penance for breaking her fast for three hours one day during Ramadan.<ref name=":6" /> She had her golden jewelry melted down to form the fourth globe.<ref name="TimeOut 2007" /><ref name="Sacred">{{Cite web |title=Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakesh |url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/morocco/marrakesh-koutoubia-mosque |access-date=5 October 2012 |publisher=Sacred Destinations}}</ref> Another version of the legend is that the balls were originally made entirely of gold fashioned from the jewellery of the wife of Saadi Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur.<ref name="Lehmann 2012">{{cite book|last1=Lehmann|first1=Ingeborg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CX7zx5C1bf4C&q=Koutoubia+Mosque&pg=PA292|title=Baedeker Morocco|last2=Henss|first2=Rita|last3=Szerelmy|first3=Beate|last4=Nosbers|first4=Hedwig|last5=Zakrzewski|first5=Reinhard|publisher=Baedeker|year=2012|isbn=9783829766234|pages=292–293|access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref>

==== Minaret interior ==== Inside the main shaft are six rooms in succession, one above the other. The whole tower can be ascended via a wide interior ramp that allowed the ''mu'azzin'' to ride a horse to the top.<ref name=":14213">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=208–214 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="TimeOut 2007" /> The different arrangements on the exterior façade of the minaret correspond to the positions of the window openings situated at different points along the ascending ramp inside. The chambers inside are also enlivened with varying degrees of decoration and with vault ceilings of different designs. The topmost (sixth) chamber is especially notable for its ornamental ribbed dome ceiling (similar to the domes of the Great Mosque of Cordoba) with ''muqarnas'' squinches and geometric patterns.<ref name=":14214">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=208–222 |language=fr}}</ref> Some of the surfaces of the walls inside the minaret are also carved with various graffiti in the form of architectural and decorative patterns, possibly left behind by artisans and architects who worked on the mosque over many years.<ref name=":14215">{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=Xavier |title=Maroc Almoravide et Almohade: Architecture et décors au temps des conquérants, 1055-1269 |publisher=LienArt |year=2018 |location=Paris |pages=210 |language=fr}}</ref>

== Minbar of the Kutubiyya Mosque == {{Main|Minbar of the Kutubiyya Mosque}} === History === [[File:المنبر المرابطي 21 44 29 915000 (retouched).jpg|alt=|thumb|The Almoravid Minbar, on display at the El Badi Palace]] The Kutubiyya Mosque's original ''minbar'' (pulpit) was commissioned by Ali ibn Yusuf, one of the last Almoravid rulers, and created by a workshop in Cordoba, Spain (al-Andalus).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/25/arts/from-mosque-to-museum-restoring-an-object-s-surface-may-petrify-its-heart.html|title=From Mosque To Museum; Restoring an Object's Surface May Petrify Its Heart|last=Kimmelman|first=Michael|date=1998-08-25|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Its production started in 1137 and is estimated to have taken seven years.<ref name=":238">{{Cite book |last=Bennison |first=Amira K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Almoravid and Almohad Empires |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2016 |pages=302 |isbn=9780748646821 |language=en}}</ref> It is regarded as “one of the unsurpassed creations of Islamic art”.<ref name="Arch" /><ref name="Lehmann 2012" /> Its artistic style and quality was hugely influential and set a standard which was repeatedly imitated, but never surpassed, in subsequent minbars across Morocco and parts of Algeria.<ref name=":0" /> It is believed that the minbar was originally placed in the first Ben Youssef Mosque (named after Ali ibn Yusuf, but entirely rebuilt in later centuries).<ref name=":0" /> It was then transferred by the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min to the first Kutubiyya Mosque and was later moved to the second incarnation of that mosque. It remained there until 1962, when it was moved to the El Badi Palace where it is now on display for visitors.<ref name="Arch" />

=== Description === [[File:المنبر المرابطي 21 44 01 519000 (retouched).jpg|alt=|thumb|A part of the Kufic Arabic inscription which runs along the upper edge of the minbar's sides]] [[File:المنبر المرابطي 21 44 14 447000.jpeg|thumb|Detail of the geometric motif on the flanks of the minbar, centered around a recurring eight-pointed star. The spaces are filled with inlay and wood-carved arabesque pieces.]] The minbar is an essentially triangular structure with the hypotenuse side occupied by a staircase with nine steps.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lLAryx8bC8UC&pg=PP1|title=Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain|publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art|year=1992|isbn=0870996371|editor-last=Dodds|editor-first=Jerrilynn D.|location=New York|pages=362–367}}</ref> It is {{Convert|3.46|m||abbr=}} long, {{Convert|0.87|m||abbr=}} wide, and {{Convert|3.86|m||abbr=}} tall.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Minbar|url=http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_F;6;en|last=El Khatib-Boujibar|first=Naima|website=Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers|access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The main structure is made in North African cedar wood, although the steps were made of walnut tree wood and the minbar's base was made with fir tree wood.<ref name=":0" /> The surfaces are decorated through a mix of marquetry and inlaid sculpted pieces. The large triangular faces of the minbar on either side are covered in an elaborate and creative motif centered around eight-pointed stars, from which decorative bands with ivory inlay then interweave and repeat the same pattern across the rest of the surface. The spaces between these bands form other geometric shapes which are filled with panels of deeply carved arabesques, made from different coloured woods (boxwood, jujube, and blackwood).<ref name=":0" /> There is a {{Convert|6|cm}} wide band of Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script on blackwood and bone running along the top edge of the balustrades.<ref name=":0" /> The other surfaces of the minbar feature a variety of other motifs. Notably, the steps of the minbar are decorated with images of an arcade of Moorish (horseshoe) arches inside which are curving plant motifs, all made entirely in marquetry with different colored woods.<ref name=":0" />

=== Mechanism moving the ''minbar'' and the ''maqsura'' === Historical accounts describe a mysterious semi-automated mechanism in the Kutubiyya Mosque by which the minbar would emerge, seemingly on its own, from its storage chamber next to the mihrab and move forward into position for the imam's sermon. Likewise, the ''maqsura'' of the mosque (a wooden screen that separated the caliph and his entourage from the general public during prayers) was also retractable in the same manner and would emerge from the ground when the caliph attended prayers at the mosque, and then retract once he left.<ref name=":0" /> This mechanism, which elicited great curiosity and wonder from contemporary observers, was designed by an engineer from Málaga named Hajj al-Ya'ish, who also completed other projects for the caliph. Modern archaeological excavations carried out on the first Kutubiyya Mosque have found evidence confirming the existence of such a mechanism, though its exact workings are not fully established. One theory, which appears plausible from the physical evidence, is that it was powered by a hidden system of pulleys and counterweights.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1222">{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Richard |title=A practical guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco |publisher=The Baraka Press |year=1981 |location=Charlottesville, VA |pages=53–54 |language=en}}</ref>

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist|33em}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Koutoubia Mosque}} * [http://archnet.org/sites/1741 Koutobia Mosque entry at ArchNet] (includes section of images with floor plan of mosque and photographs of its interior) * [http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;4;en Kutubiya Mosque page at Discover Islamic Art] (includes picture of the upper chamber inside the minaret) *[https://www.google.ca/maps/@31.6235429,-7.993521,3a,75y,91.88h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPKwvMv3no70v9ciKLKPCPMZ5fAxvv_0ADhyP5S!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPKwvMv3no70v9ciKLKPCPMZ5fAxvv_0ADhyP5S%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya92.20273-ro-0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600?hl=en 360-degree view of the area near the mihrab] posted on Google Maps *[https://almenarablanca.com/levantamiento-arquitectonico/cupula-en-la-mezquita-kutubiyya/ 3D model of the muqarnas cupola in front of the mihrab] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203152429/https://almenarablanca.com/levantamiento-arquitectonico/cupula-en-la-mezquita-kutubiyya/ |date=3 December 2024 }}, by Almenara Blanca *[https://www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk/pages/search.php?search=%21collection2407 Manar al-Athar digital image archive] (including a range of exterior photo angles)

Category:Mosques in Marrakesh Category:12th-century mosques in Africa Category:Almohad architecture Category:Tourist attractions in Marrakesh Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1195 Category:Mosques completed in the 1190s Category:12th-century establishments in Morocco