Marrakesh contains the Koutoubia Mosque, whose minaret influenced Rabat’s Hassan Tower.
The Koutoubia is the largest mosque in Marrakesh and was built under the Almohad dynasty in the 12th century. Its name comes from the Arabic word for booksellers, reflecting the market that once operated nearby.
The square minaret is about 77 metres high and is topped by a small lantern and decorative finials. Its proportions and restrained ochre-colored design became an important model for later Moroccan and western Islamic architecture.
The Hassan Tower in Rabat was also an Almohad project, begun under Yaqub al-Mansur in the late 12th century, but it was left unfinished. The Koutoubia is sometimes confused with Marrakesh’s earlier Almoravid mosque, which no longer survives in its original form.