Abdallah al-Ghalib

Abdallah al-Ghalib

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I am Abdallah al-Ghalib, son of Muhammad al-Shaykh, and I ruled this city for seventeen years. I am told men now visit my buildings and do not know my name, which is a particular kind of death. So walk with me: from the square where my people gathered, north through the quarter I ordered rebuilt, to the college that carries my endowment and another man's name. I will tell it honestly, which I did not always do while living. Keep walking — I can only speak where the stones remember me.

The walk

A story walk through the Mouassine and Ben Youssef quarters, told by the Saadian sultan who rebuilt them in the 1560s. No puzzles: just the man, the streets he ordered raised, the fountain he had carved, and the college he paid for, seen in the order he would have shown them. It ends where his name is still cut into cedar, in a building that outlived everyone in his family.

Where Abdallah al-Ghalib takes you

1. 1

   Jemaa El-Fna

   “Jemaa el-Fnaa”

   The great square at the heart of the medina, a market place and gathering ground recognised by UNESCO for its living oral traditions.

2. 2

   Mosque of the Cat

   “The Mosque of the Cat”

   A small Ksour-quarter mosque with a richly decorated minaret, founded by a disciple of the saint Abu al-Abbas as-Sabti and rebuilt under the Marinids.

3. 3

   Dar Cherifa

   A late 16th-century Saadian-era house, one of very few well preserved in the city, now a café and art gallery.

4. 4

   Mouassine Mosque

   “The Mouassine Mosque”

   The Friday mosque of the Mouassine quarter, built in the 16th century by Abdallah al-Ghalib as the heart of a charitable complex.

5. 5

   Mouassine Fountain

   “The Mouassine Fountain”

   The monumental public fountain of the 16th-century Mouassine complex, with drinking basins for people and animals.

6. 6

   Zawiya of Sidi Abd el-Aziz

   The religious complex around the tomb of Sidi Abd al-Aziz at-Tabba', one of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh, who died here in 1508.

7. 7

   Almoravid Qubba

   “The Almoravid Qubba”

   A small early 12th-century domed structure, the only substantial surviving piece of Almoravid architecture in Marrakesh.

8. 8

   Ben Youssef Madrasa

   “The Ben Youssef Madrasa”

   The largest Islamic college in the Maghreb at its height, commissioned in 1564–65 by Abdallah al-Ghalib and a pinnacle of Saadian architecture.

Who was Abdallah al-Ghalib?

He ordered the building of the Mouassine Mosque and its fountain complex and commissioned the Ben Youssef Madrasa in 1564–65 — two of the stops on this walk are literally his.

c. 1517–1574

Abdallah al-Ghalib was a sultan of the Saadian dynasty who ruled Morocco from 1557 until his death in 1574. He redeveloped the Mouassine quarter of Marrakesh, commissioning the Mouassine Mosque as its Friday mosque at the centre of a complex that included a madrasa, a hammam, a library and the Mouassine Fountain. In 1564–65 he commissioned the Ben Youssef Madrasa, which became the largest Islamic college in the Maghreb. He secured his throne by destroying rival claimants within his own family; his surviving brothers fled abroad, and within four years of his death his dynasty's succession collapsed in war.

Abdallah al-Ghalib's words in this game are an AI performance written from the historical record; the facts above are documented. Read more on Wikipedia.