Koutoubia Mosque Minaret
Koutoubia Mosque Minaret: Named after the souk el koutoubiyyin, the bazaar of the book-traders, which is nearby. The hall-type mosque has 17 aisles and 112 columns and is among the largest of its kind – 25,000 of the faithful can say their prayers within it. At the end of the prayer hall is an ornately carved minbar (pulpit), which is supposed to be a remnant of the Almoravid mosque destroyed by the Almohad builders of the present edifice. The square minaret, which wasn’t completed until the reign of Yacoub el Mansour (1184-1199), was the direct model for the Giralda in Sevilla and the Hassan Tower in Rabat. It is considered the ultimate structure of its kind.
