Moulay Abdallah Mosque


The Moulay Abdallah Mosque or Mosque of Moulay Abdallah is a major mosque and royal necropolis complex situated in the center of the Moulay Abdallah district in Fes el-Jdid, the historic palace-city and citadel in Fes, Morocco. It was founded by the Alaouite sultan Moulay Abdallah who is buried in the adjoining necropolis along with later members of the dynasty.

Historical background

The mosque is located Fes el-Jdid, which was originally a royal citadel and administrative city founded in 1276 by the Marinid dynasty. Fes el-Jdid originally housed many of the sultan's troops and it also continued to house the royal palace up to modern times. In the 17th century the Alaouite sultan Moulay Rashid built the large Kasbah Cherarda north of Fes el-Jdid in order to house his tribal troops, which in turn liberated new space in the city. This included the northwestern area of Fes el-Jdid which then became the Moulay Abdallah neighbourhood from the early 18th century onward. This is where Sultan Moulay Abdallah erected the mosque and a royal necropolis where he himself was buried after his death. The necropolis continued to serve as a necropolis for the Alaouite family afterwards, and was reworked into its current form by Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman in the mid-19th century. It later came to house the tombs of Sultan Moulay Youssef, who was buried here in 1927, and of Moulay Abdelaziz and Moulay Abd al-Hafid, who were buried here in 1943 and 1937 respectively.
The mosque also once had madrasa which offered initial training to less-educated students before they went on to study at the al-Qarawiyyin University. An old historic hammam is also located just west of the mosque.