Koutoubia Mosque, the city’s most important landmark, was built by the Almoravides, Morocco’s first great dynasty. The original mosque was destroyed by their successors, the Almohads, in 1147, when they built their own mosque, and then an extension, properly aligned with Mecca, in 1158. The present day mosque, like nearly all mosques in Morocco, is closed to non-Muslims. However, a minbar (moveable staircase from which a mosque’s spiritual leader delivers his sermon and leads prayers) from the Koutoubia Mosque can be seen in the Dar Si Said Museum.
Saadian Tombs, was built in the 16th century by Ahmed el Mansour, a Saadian sultan, on the sight of an older cemetery, and was reserved for descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. After the collapse of the Saadian dynasty, the tombs were bricked up in the late 17th century. Today, it is one of the top sites in Marrakech, containing the tombs of members of Saadian royal family.
El Badi Palace, an elegant ruin built in the 16th century, was once a beautiful palace of white Italian marble. Today the palace walls surround an open courtyard with a rectangular pool, with traces of the system once used to irrigate the gardens. The palace took 25 years to complete and, a century later, 12 years to destroy. Today, the palace grounds are the location for the annual Marrakech Folklore Festival.
Jemaa el Fna is a huge square of open space where the heart of Marrakech street life throbs at night with a nearly medieval show of performers, jugglers, glowing lamps, and clouds of smoke and mouth-watering scents from brochette braziers and food vendors.