Publication Date
10th - 11th century AH / 16th - 17th century AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;14;ar
Library Location
Marrakesh, Morocco
Date
10th - 11th century AH / 16th - 17th century AD
Notes
This landmark, called in historical texts “the graves of the nobles,” was originally an annex to the Kasbah Mosque, where the Almohad and Marinid ruling families buried some of their relatives. But the current buildings all date back to the Saadian period. The Eastern Dome, which is the oldest dome in Rawda, was built by Sultan Abdullah al-Ghalib to bury his father, Muhammad al-Sheikh, in it. The dome is arranged in a traditional-style building, and includes a square hall with niches decorated with muqarnas, and the plaster inscriptions are decorated with multi-colored gilding. Ahmed Al-Mansur Al-Dhahabi expanded this shrine, encircling it on three sides, and added to the old dome a front building consisting of three halls and two foyers. This building contains the grave of Ahmed Al-Mansour himself, the graves of Moulay Zidane and his son, and the grave of Lalla Masouda, the wife of Sheikh Mohammed. After the Saadians, a number of Alawites built their graves inside this building, as it currently contains 56 funeral headstones, and a hundred graves distributed between the domes and the wide walled area. The building that Ahmed Al-Mansur built from south to north includes: - An unadorned chapel, divided by four columns into three naves. Its wood-clad ceiling was decorated with geometric lattices, and a mihrab whose back part was covered with muqarnas. - A hall. It is square and includes the shrine of Al-Mansur and his relatives. Its middle is surmounted by twelve columns, and each facade is formed by three arches made up of broken arches decorated with muqarnas. Around the central ceiling, built of wood, with geometric decoration, runs a wreath of muqarnas, and the perimeter corridors are crossed by transom arches, decorated with muqarnas and square dots at the corners. This hall, which has a side of 10 meters and a height of 11.50 meters, is completely covered with tile, or with decorations carved on plaster mortar and wood. These decorations were highlighted by appropriate lighting, and this marriage between spaciousness and excessive refinement revealed an amazing charm. - A third hall, much shallower, is accessed through two doors decorated with muqarnas, starting from a central hall that is also richly decorated. Three niches covered with muqarnas were carved into the back wall, while the wooden ceiling was decorated with decorative lattices.
Sample Text
Kamal Lakhdar “Saadian Tombs” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;14;ar
