The Koutoubia mosque is one of Marrakesh’s landmarks. It is approximately 221 feet high, and is the largest mosque in Marrakech, Morocco. The minaret of the mosque was completed at around 1195. The mosque is named after the arabic word for library, since it was orignally used as a library and a mosque. There are 6 rooms inside the minaret, with a wooden scaffold at the top of the tower to assist the deaf by showing when prayers begin. It is built in a traditional Almohad style and the tower is adorned with four copper globes.

According to legend, the globes were originally made of gold, and there were supposed to have been only three globes. The fourth globe is said to have been donated by the wife of Yacoub el-Mansour as dispensation for her failure to keep the fast for one day during the month of Ramadan, with her gold jewelry being melted down to provide the gold to cover the fourth globe.

It is just a beautiful mosque, and the best time to photograph it in all its glory is at sunset. The mosque is not open to non-muslims. However, it is always nice to walk around the outside as there is so much to see.