Grand Mosque of Tangier

The site the Grand Mosque occupies has been in religious use for a very long time and by a succession of occupants, which is a compressed version of Tangier's history: a temple in the Roman period, a mosque under Muslim rule, a cathedral during the Portuguese occupation from 1471, a church when the city passed to England as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry in 1661, and a mosque again after Moulay Ismail took it in 1684, rebuilt substantially in the eighteenth century under Moulay Slimane. The minaret with its bands of green and white zellige is the visible part, seen from the lanes and from the Petit Socco below; non-Muslims cannot go inside, so the visit is the exterior and the surrounding streets. The mosque sits at the top of the Petit Socco, which was the centre of international-zone Tangier and still has its old cafes.

What you actually see

• A layered site - Roman temple, mosque, cathedral, English church and mosque again.
• A tiled minaret - green and white zellige bands, seen from the lanes below.
• An eighteenth-century rebuilding - the present structure largely from Moulay Slimane.
• The Petit Socco below - the old international-zone square with its cafes.

When to go

Spring and autumn. Half an hour, walking the medina.

Honest expectations

Non-Muslims cannot enter - the minaret and the doorways are the visit. Lanes around it are narrow and steep. There is no interpretation of the site's layered history on the ground. The Petit Socco has a certain amount of touting.

Nearby

The Petit Socco is immediately below; the kasbah is up the hill.