Which African capital is home to the unfinished Hassan Tower? Rabat. Hassan Tower is the surviving minaret of an incomplete Almohad mosque in Rabat, Morocco. Its isolated form and surrounding rows of unfinished columns are among the Moroccan capital’s most recognizable historic sights.
Construction began near the end of the 12th century under Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, the third caliph of the Almohad Caliphate. He envisioned a vast imperial mosque and a monumental capital called Ribat al-Fath. The tower was intended to be the mosque’s minaret and may have become one of the largest in the Islamic world had the project been completed.
Al-Mansur’s death in 1199 halted the work. The minaret remained about 44 metres high, while the mosque was left with partial walls and 348 columns. The complex later suffered damage in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Today, Hassan Tower stands beside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, creating a major historical and ceremonial complex.
The name can cause confusion: “Hassan” refers to the tower and its associated mosque, not to Morocco’s capital. Rabat itself was never fully established as the Almohad imperial capital; Marrakesh retained that role.