Mausoleum of Mohammed V

The mausoleum was built between 1961 and 1971 to hold the tomb of Mohammed V and, later, those of his sons, and it was designed by the Vietnamese architect Vo Toan working with Moroccan craftsmen - about four hundred of them, in a deliberate exercise in demonstrating that the traditional trades were alive. The building is white Italian marble under a green-tiled pyramid roof, with a carved cedar ceiling, plaster and zellige inside, and the tombs on a lower floor in white onyx, viewed from a gallery that runs round above them so visitors look down. It is open to all, unlike almost every other religious building in Morocco, and there are royal guards in ceremonial dress at the entrances. It stands on the esplanade of the twelfth-century Hassan mosque, whose incomplete minaret and forest of broken columns are alongside, and the two together are the UNESCO-listed core of Rabat.

What you actually see

• A viewing gallery - tombs in white onyx on the floor below, looked down on from above.
• Four hundred craftsmen - a deliberate demonstration of the living traditional trades.
• Green tile on white marble - a pyramid roof over an Italian marble box.
• The Hassan esplanade - the unfinished twelfth-century minaret and columns alongside.

When to go

October to April. An hour, combined with the Hassan Tower.

Honest expectations

It is a modern building, completed in 1971, not a historic one. Dress modestly - it is a working mausoleum. Guards are ceremonial but photographing them closely is discouraged. The esplanade is exposed with no shade.

Nearby

The Hassan Tower is on the same esplanade; the Kasbah of the Udayas is west.