Almoravid Qubba

The Almoravid Qubba is situated next to the Marrakech Museum and around 40 meters south of the Mosque of Ben Youssef. It is the only surviving example of Almoravid architecture in Marrakesh. It was built in either 1117 or, more likely, in 1125, by the Almoravid ruler Ali ibn Yusuf. Scholars have generally accepted that it belonged to the nearby Ben Youssef Mosque, the main mosque of the city at the time, and that it was a pavilion used for ritual ablutions before prayer. This type of structure for providing water near a mosque was also known as a ''mida'a'' (; "ablutions facility") and is found in later mosques in Marrakesh. == Description ==

The domed pavilion The dome (qubba) tops a rectangular building, measuring 7.35 by 5.45 meters, sheltering a water basin. Around the interior of the pavilion is an Arabic inscription, now badly damaged, which details the foundation of the structure and cites the name of Ali ibn Yusuf and the date of construction, although the year of the date is unfortunately unreadable (leading to scholarly debate about the exact date). File:Almoravid Qubba DSCF5787.jpg|View of upper section and windows File:Almoravid Qubba DSCF5757.jpg|Interior of the main cupola File:Medersa Ben Youssef, Marrakech. (4849319150) (cropped and retouched).jpg|Details of the decoration inside the cupola. File:Almoravid Qubba DSCF5696.jpg|One of the small muqarnas cupolas in the four corners File:Arch Detail (5038309541).jpg|Decoration on the arches around the inner edge of the pavilion File:Almoravid qubba basin.jpg|Water basin under the dome; the basin is surrounded by a thin trench where spilled water could be drained Other structures around the pavilion A series of private latrines, possibly built at a later period, have also been excavated all around the domed building. Next to the domed building was also a monumental fountain or water source in another rectangular structure measuring around 14.5 by 4.5 meters. The structure was open to the street via three arched openings, with each bay occupied by a water basin and a water trough along its back wall. This fountain structure is reminiscent, in its basic form, of later wall fountains of Marrakesh like those of the Mouassine Mosque or of the Shrob ou Shouf Fountain. The water for this fountain and the ablutions kiosk was drawn via bronze pipes from a nearby cistern covered by a barrel vault, which can be found today behind these structures. The supply of water to this cistern probably relied in turn on the revolutionary hydraulics of khettaras, a drainage system characteristic of historic Morocco. File:Almoravid qubba base and latrines.jpg|Base of the Almoravid pavilion, with remains of private latrines surrounding it File:Almoravid Qubba (nearby remains of street fountain) DSCF5775.jpg|Remains of the triple-arched fountain structure next to the qubba File:Almoravid qubba cistern.jpg|Inside the cistern behind the fountain ==Notes==