The Koutoubia Mosque is the Moroccan mosque in Marrakesh whose famous 12th-century minaret defines the city’s skyline.
The Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min began the mosque in the 12th century, and the surviving minaret was completed under his successor Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur. It rises about 77 metres and is built in the square-minaret tradition characteristic of Morocco and the wider Maghreb.
The name comes from Arabic al-kutubiyyin, meaning booksellers, reflecting the mosque’s location near a historic bookselling market. Its proportions and decoration influenced later Moroccan and Andalusian architecture.
Marrakesh’s building rules have traditionally protected views of the minaret, making it unusually prominent in the modern city. The Koutoubia is therefore both a religious building and an important urban landmark.