Gallery
Description
Property Name: Gateways of Rabat
Inventory No: 212-3-2
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2008-02-29
Country (State party): Morocco
Province: Rabat
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 34° 0′ 46.26″ N
6° 50′ 15.3″ W
Historic Period:
Year of Construction: late 12th century
Style: Almohad
Original Use: Gate
Current Use: Gate
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Several gates and fortifications survive from the Almohad period and the most imposing ones are in Rabat. The entrance to Udaya Qasaba, added after 1191, consists of a succession of rooms parallel to the ramparts, covered with domes and a barrel vault. Bab Ruwah is more complex in its layout, the rooms beings disposed in the more usual bent manner; one room is roofless. The decoration is similar to Udaya Gate, but the network of lozanges is here replaced by an interlace of horse-shoe arches.
Selection Criteria
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
It was built by the Almohad caliph Ya’qub al-Mansur around 1195.
In a good condition and open to visit.
References
Michell, George. Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning. Thames and Hudson, London, 1978