Module 061 · Urban Archaeology

The 19 Gates

Every bab in the walls of Marrakech

The walls went up in eight months. In 1126, the Almoravid ruler Ali ibn Yusuf ordered Marrakech fortified against the Almohad rebels advancing from the High Atlas. Workers raised 19 kilometres of rammed earth — clay, lime, limestone, reddish from the Gueliz quarries — nine metres high, two metres thick, punctured by twelve gates and flanked by two hundred watchtowers. Those walls still stand. The city they were built to protect has changed dynasties five times. The gates remember all of them.

19

gates (bab)

19km

wall perimeter

200

watchtowers

1126

year walls built

The Walls & Gates

Circles = medina gates. Squares = Kasbah gates. Red line = wall perimeter. Click any gate.

Medina Gates (12)

Kasbah Gates (7)

Sources: Deverdun, Gaston. Marrakech: des origines à 1912. Éditions Techniques Nord-Africaines, 1959. Archnet: "Walls and Gates of Marrakech." Salmon, Georges. "Les Remparts de Marrakech." Archives Marocaines, Vol. 3, 1905. Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture. Edinburgh University Press, 1999. Parker, Richard. A Practical Guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco. Baraka Press, 1981. Wikipedia: "Walls of Marrakesh," "Bab Agnaou," "Zawiya of Sidi Bel Abbes." Coordinates verified via Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, and field observation.