page_title: Moroccan architecture
section_title: Brick and stone
hierarchical_section_title: Moroccan architecture / Constructions methods and materials / Brick and stone
caption_attribution_description: English: Decorative elements on the Koutoubia minaret's western facade, around the bottom windows.
context_page_description: Moroccan architecture refers to the architecture characteristic of Morocco throughout its history and up to modern times. The country's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military conquest, are all reflected in its architecture. This architectural heritage ranges from ancient Roman and Berber sites to 20th-century colonial and modern architecture.
  The most recognizably "Moroccan" architecture, however, is the traditional architecture that developed in the Islamic period which dominates much of Morocco's documented history and its existing heritage. This "Islamic architecture" of Morocco was part of a wider cultural and artistic complex, often referred to as "Hispano-Moorish" art, which characterized Morocco, al-Andalus, and parts of Algeria and even Tunisia. It blended influences from Berber culture in North Africa, pre-Islamic Spain, and contemporary artistic currents in the Islamic Middle East to elaborate a unique style over centuries with recognizable features such as the "Moorish" arch, riad gardens, and elaborate geometric and arabesque motifs in wood, stucco, and tilework.
context_section_description: In addition to rammed earth, brick and (especially in desert regions) mudbrick were also common types of materials for the construction of houses, civic architecture, and mosques. Many medieval minarets, for example, are made in brick, in many cases covered with other materials for decoration. Stone masonry was also used in many notable monuments, especially in the Almohad period. The monumental Almohad gates of Bab Agnaou, Bab er-Rouah, and the main gate of the Udayas Kasbah (Bab Oudaia) made extensive use of carved stone. The major Almohad minarets of the same period demonstrate the relative variability in construction material and methods, depending on the region and the demands of the structure: the minaret of the Kutubiyya Mosque is built in rubble masonry using sandstone, the Giralda of Seville (in Spain) was made in local brick, the massive but unfinished Hassan Tower in Rabat was made in stone, and the minaret of the Kasbah Mosque in Marrakesh was made with a base of rubble stone and a main shaft of brick.
caption: The surface of the 12th-century Kutubiyya minaret: the use of rubble masonry is visible, as are the faint remains of plaster, with painted decoration, which once covered it.
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