Pictures I took of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco
The Koutoubia Mosque is a beautiful mosque I went to visit in Marrakech, when I was in Morocco this summer. It has got the Koutoubia gardens, with orange trees, and flowers surrounding the mosque too, which makes it a relaxing and beautiful environment to be in. The name Koutob comes from the Arabic word meaning books, as I have been told it used to be surrounded by book sellers. It is the largest mosque in its town. It was built in 1147, but then it had to deconstructed and built all over again because it wasn't headed in the direction of the holy city of Mecca, where the muslims turn to pray towards. It has influences from the Moorish, just like King Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. For me to compare I would say the Kotoubia mosque looked much older, as it is. The Minaret stands 70m tall, and it consists of six rooms built on top of one another. At the top of the Minaret are four golden globes. At the time of construction there were only meant to be three golden globes at the top of the minaret. However, there's an interesting story about the fourth golden globe. The wife of Ysaub El Mansour, who was the ruler of Morocco at the time, had eaten a grape during the fasting period of Ramadan, and so had felt guilty for breaking her fast that she decided to collect all her golden jewellery, melt it and then finally create a fourth golden globe on the top of the minaret.
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