History & Architecture · Medina
Ben Youssef Madrasa
Morocco's largest madrasa, and the courtyard that makes everyone go quiet
About the place
You come in through a narrow dark passage and the courtyard opens up, and there are always those two seconds of silence. The pool, the marble, the cedar blackened by four centuries, and nobody talking. The madrasa dates from the Marinids, but it was the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib who rebuilt it in 1565; up to 900 students slept here in cells of two square metres. Go upstairs: the small mashrabiya windows look down on the courtyard, and that's where the place makes sense. Reopened in 2022 after four years of work. The restoration is good, even if some Marrakchis miss the old patina.
Don't miss
- 01Marble courtyard and ablution pool
- 0216th-century zellige and carved stucco
- 03130 student cells on two floors
- 04Prayer hall with a marble mihrab
Visiting tip
Be there at 9 sharp or after 4:30. Between 10 and noon the riad groups arrive in waves and the pool disappears behind phones.
Location
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