Almoravid Koubba

The Almohads destroyed almost everything their Almoravid predecessors built in Marrakesh but overlooked this graceful 12th-century koubba (dome) across from the Ali Ben Youssef Mosque. This relic reveals what Hispano-Moorish architecture owes to the Almoravids: keyhole arches, interlaced arabesques and a domed cupola on a crenellated base. It was probably the ablution block of the adjacent mosque, and if you climb down the steps, you can see the system of pipes that supplied it with water. The inside decoration is particularly fine.