The most ambitious of all Almohad buildings, the Hassan Mosque was, in its time, the second largest mosque in the Islamic world, outflanked only by the one in Smarra, Iraq. Though little remains today apart from its vast tower, or minaret, its sheer size still seems a novelty.
The mosque was begun in 1195 – the same period as Marrakesh’s Koutoubia and Seville’s Giralda – and was designed to be the centrepiece of Yacoub el Mansour’s new capital in celebration of his victory over the Spanish Christians at Alarcos, but construction seems to have been abandoned on El Mansour’s death in 1199.
