Bab Mrissa

Bab Mrissa is unusual among Moroccan gates because it was built for boats. Constructed in the thirteenth century under the Marinids, it stands on what was then a canal cut from the Bouregreg into an inner harbour inside the walls of Sale, and its horseshoe arch is around eleven metres high - far taller than a gate for people and animals needs to be - so that masted vessels could be brought through into a basin where they were safe from attack and from the Atlantic. That arrangement was one of the things that made Sale a viable corsair base. The canal and basin silted and were built over long ago, so the gate now stands on dry ground in the middle of a street with traffic going under it, and the reason for its proportions is not obvious until pointed out. The carved stone decoration around the arch is Marinid and substantially intact.

What you actually see

• A gate sized for ships - an eleven-metre arch built for masted vessels, not carts.
• A vanished harbour - the canal and inner basin silted and built over.
• Marinid stone carving - thirteenth-century decoration round the arch, largely intact.
• Traffic underneath - the gate now standing on dry ground in a working street.

When to go

October to April. Half an hour, in passing through Sale.

Honest expectations

There is nothing to enter - it is a gate in a street. Traffic passes under it constantly and photographing it cleanly is difficult. The harbour it served is entirely gone and unmarked. There is no interpretation on site.

Nearby

The Sale medina is through the gate; the Bouregreg marina is south.