Medina of Marrakesh
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How it came to be
Marrakesh was founded around 1070 as the capital of the Almoravids, a Berber dynasty. Its founder was Abu Bakr ibn Umar, and in 1122–1123 Ali ibn Yusuf surrounded it with red walls.
In 1147 the Almohad leader Abd al-Mu'min took the city and made it his capital. He began the Kutubiyya Mosque that year and soon rebuilt it, and its 77-metre minaret is still the city's landmark. In the 16th century Marrakesh became the capital again under the Saadians, and in 1578 Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur began the El Badi Palace.
The walled medina covers about 700 hectares of lanes, souks and workshops. It was inscribed in 1985, and the cultural space of Jemaa el-Fnaa square is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
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