Koutoubia Mosque

Built between 1147 and 1199 under the Almohad caliphs, the Koutoubia's minaret established the canonical proportions for Moroccan minarets: a square tower whose height equals five times its width, crowned with a lantern. Its influence extends far beyond Morocco — the Giralda in Seville and the Hassan Tower in Rabat were built to the same blueprint. The name means "Mosque of the Booksellers" after the manuscript market that once surrounded it. The minaret's decorative program — blind arches, interlacing patterns, ceramic inlay — changes on each face, a detail visible only from the air. Four copper globes crown the top, the largest weighing a ton.