Koutoubia
Rose-stone Almohad minaret and mosque rebuilt to correct a prayer-direction error, its bell-shaped tower visible for miles.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Koutoubia in Marrakesh opens with a caliph, Abd al-Mu'min, tearing down his own newly finished mosque after discovering it faced the wrong way for prayer, and raising a second one beside it around 1158. It follows the decades-long construction of the minaret that replaced it, completed under Yaqub al-Mansur, and the three copper spheres crowning its tip that locals have long claimed are solid gold. Look up at those spheres for yourself — nobody has ever climbed up to check.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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