Ben Youssef Madrasa — museum
Lundeux · CC BY-SA 2.5

Ben Youssef Madrasa

  • 1 min read
  • 31.632° N 7.986° W

Interesting facts

  • The marble basin in the prayer hall was carved between 1002 and 1007 at Madinat al-Zahra near Córdoba for Abd al-Malik, son of the vizier Almanzor.
  • Scholars think the Almoravid ruler Ali ibn Yusuf brought marble spoils from the ruined palaces of Córdoba to Marrakesh in the 12th century, the basin among them.
  • The basin was only identified by experts in 1923 and spent years in the Dar Si Said Museum before returning to the madrasa in 2022.
  • The madrasa takes its name from the neighbouring Ben Youssef Mosque, founded by the Almoravid sultan Ali ibn Yusuf, who reigned from 1106 to 1142.
  • Visitors enter through a single street door under a muqarnas vault, then a narrow corridor, before the courtyard suddenly opens up.
  • Besides the main courtyard, six smaller courtyards, three on each side, gave light and air to the students' rooms on two levels.
  • A carved cedar lintel bears an Arabic inscription praising the builder, Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib.
  • A Kufic inscription around the arch of the mihrab quotes verses 36 and 37 of Surah an-Nur, alongside the basmala.
  • The entrance doors are plated with bronze worked in geometric interlace and arabesque patterns.
  • Students here trained as ulama in Maliki law, jurisprudence and the variant readings of the Quran.

Why it is worth it

The Ben Youssef Madrasa is the great theological college of old Marrakesh, and its courtyard is one of the most complete expressions of Moroccan ornament to be seen anywhere. A college first stood here in the fourteenth century under the Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan; the building visitors enter today was rebuilt and completed by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib, and an inscription dates the work to 1564 to 1565. At its height it was the largest Islamic college in the Maghreb, with 130 student cells and room for some 800 students.

The plan is almost square, about 40 by 43 metres, and everything turns inward to the central courtyard. A long rectangular pool runs down the middle, doubling the arcades in its still water. Around it the walls are layered from the ground up: a dado of zellij, the mosaic of cut glazed tiles in geometric patterns; above it bands of carved stucco so fine it looks like lace, worked with calligraphy and vegetal patterns; and at the top, carved cedar wood. At the far end, the prayer hall with its mihrab is crowned by muqarnas vaulting, the honeycomb of tiny niches that dissolves the ceiling into light and shadow. Displayed in the prayer hall is a marble ablutions basin carved in Córdoba between 1002 and 1007, centuries older than the madrasa itself.

The small students' cells are a world away from the splendour of the courtyard, and the contrast says much about the life of study here. The college was closed in 1960, opened to visitors after refurbishment in 1982, and was restored again between 2018 and 2022.

Getting there

The madrasa is in the medina of Marrakesh, about 1.3 km from the city centre, and is reached on foot through the lanes of the old town. The nearest airport is Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK), about 6 km away.

Plan your visit

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Nearby places

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Marrakesh-Tensift-El Haouz 6The Most Beautiful Places in Morocco 21The Most Remarkable Museums 93The Most Beautiful Buildings 286

From the encyclopaedia

The Ben Youssef Madrasa is an Islamic madrasa (college) in Marrakesh, Morocco. The madrasa is named after the adjacent Ben Youssef Mosque, and was commissioned in 1564–65 CE by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib. Functioning today as a historical site, the Ben Youssef Madrasa was the largest Islamic college in the Maghreb at its height, and is widely recognized as a pinnacle of Saadian and Moroccan architecture.

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