Bab Agnaou
The ceremonial Almohad gate into the royal kasbah, cut in blue-grey stone rather than the city's usual earth.
Updated 21 October 2026
UNESCO World Heritage
Marrakech is built of pise, rammed red earth, and its walls and most of its gates are that material - which is exactly why Bab Agnaou stands out. Built around 1188 under the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur as the ceremonial entrance to the royal kasbah, it is faced in cut blue-grey Guéliz stone, framed by a series of concentric horseshoe arches carved with a floral and shell pattern and an inscription band in Kufic script, with the whole composition set in a rectangular frame. It was not a defensive gate; the defensive one is beside it. The name is variously explained, including as a reference to a Sub-Saharan connection, and none of the explanations is settled. The towers that flanked it are gone. It stands next to the kasbah mosque and is the entrance most visitors use to reach the Saadian tombs.
History
The gate is attributed to the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur and was finished around 1188 or 1190 as the main public entrance to the royal kasbah he built in the south of the medina, next to the Kasbah Mosque and near the later Saadian Tombs, El Badi Palace and the Royal Palace. Its name is thought to be Berber and has been read as the mutes, as Black people or the Gnawa - perhaps because it faces partly south, towards sub-Saharan Africa - or even as a sheep without horns, and it was also called Bab al-Qasr, the gate of the palace, and Bab al-Kuhl (Wikipedia, Bab Agnaou).
What's there
- Stone in an earthen city - cut blue-grey masonry where everything else is rammed earth.
- Concentric arches - carved floral and shell bands framed in a rectangle.
- A Kufic inscription - a script band running round the composition.
- A ceremonial entrance - built for display, with the defensive gate alongside.
When to go
October to April; late afternoon light on the stone. Half an hour.
Things to know
It is a gate and the visit is brief. The flanking towers no longer exist. The area outside is busy with traffic and parking. Guides offering to explain it expect payment.
Nearby
The Saadian tombs and the kasbah mosque are inside the gate; the Jemaa el-Fna is north.
Key facts
Source: Wikidata, item Q4837210, read on 18 October 2026.
What to pack for Bab Agnaou
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- Loose, light, long clothing - Covering up beats bare skin in the desert - and locals dress this way for a reason. Find on Amazon
- Comfortable walking shoes - Sightseeing means kilometres of pavement and cobbles daily. Find on Amazon
- Modest clothing - Shoulders and knees covered - the single most common requirement. Find on Amazon
- A wide-brim hat + sunglasses - Shade for your face and eyes where there is none overhead. Find on Amazon
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