The Hassan Tower

In the 1190s the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur began a mosque in Rabat that would have been among the largest in the world, with a minaret of the same family as the Koutoubia in Marrakech and the Giralda in Seville. Work stopped at his death and the tower reached about forty-four metres of a planned height roughly twice that, so it ends flat, with the ramp inside going nowhere. The prayer hall was never finished either and was later shaken down, leaving several hundred stumps of columns standing in rows across a paved platform, which is a strange and rather beautiful thing to walk through. A twentieth-century mausoleum in white marble and green tile stands at the far end of the platform and is open to visitors, with mounted guards at the gates.

History

The Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur decided to build a new fortified imperial capital, al-Mahdiyya or Ribat al-Fath, on the site of today's medina of Rabat, with an enormous mosque whose minaret was to be the largest in the world; building began in 1191, though 1195 is sometimes given because of a report linking the new capital with his victory at Alarcos. Like the Giralda of Seville, the tower was modelled on the minaret of the Koutoubia in Marrakesh, with ramps inside instead of stairs, said to echo the Lighthouse of Alexandria. When al-Mansur died in 1199 work stopped, leaving the minaret at 44 metres and the mosque with only the beginnings of its walls and 348 columns, and the capital never actually moved from Marrakesh. The mosque was further damaged by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, the Mausoleum of Mohammed V was built on its esplanade in the 1960s, and in 2012 the tower became part of the Rabat World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Hassan Tower).

Highlights

• The tower - the flat-topped, richly carved minaret, stopped mid-build.
• The column field - hundreds of stumps marking the never-completed prayer hall.
• The river view - the platform edge looking across the Bou Regreg to Sale.
• The mausoleum - a marble and green-tiled building at the far end, open to enter.

When to go

Any season; the platform is exposed with no shade, so early morning or late afternoon is far more comfortable in summer. It is free and never really closed, so it is easy to fit around other Rabat sights. The tram from the city centre stops within a short walk.

Practical notes

It is a large, flat, open space and, once you have walked the columns and photographed the tower, there is not much to occupy a second hour. The tower cannot be climbed. Modest dress is expected for the mausoleum and photography rules there are enforced. Coach parties arrive in waves and the site is windy and glaring on bright days.

Nearby

The Kasbah of the Udayas, Chellah and the Rabat medina are all within the city.

Key facts