Fodor's Expert Review Bab Mansour
Looming over the Place el-Hedim, this huge, horseshoe-shape triumphal arch is widely considered to be North Africa's most beautiful gate, completed in 1732 by a Christian convert to Islam named Mansour Laalej (whose name means "victorious renegade"). The marble Ionic columns supporting the two bastions on either side of the main entry are thought to have been taken from the Roman ruins at Volubilis. The taller Corinthian columns came from Marrakesh's El Badi Palace, part of Moulay Ismail's campaign to erase any vestige of the Saadian dynasty that preceded the Alaouites. Ismail's last important construction project, the gate was conceived as an elaborate homage to himself and the dynasty's strong Muslim orthodoxy, rather than a defensive stronghold—hence its intense decoration of green and white tiles and engraved Koranic panels, now faded with age. The Arabic inscription along the top of the gate reads: "I am the most beautiful gate in Morocco. I’m like the moon in the sky. Property... READ MORE
Looming over the Place el-Hedim, this huge, horseshoe-shape triumphal arch is widely considered to be North Africa's most beautiful gate, completed in 1732 by a Christian convert to Islam named Mansour Laalej (whose name means "victorious renegade"). The marble Ionic columns supporting the two bastions on either side of the main entry are thought to have been taken from the Roman ruins at Volubilis. The taller Corinthian columns came from Marrakesh's El Badi Palace, part of Moulay Ismail's campaign to erase any vestige of the Saadian dynasty that preceded the Alaouites. Ismail's last important construction project, the gate was conceived as an elaborate homage to himself and the dynasty's strong Muslim orthodoxy, rather than a defensive stronghold—hence its intense decoration of green and white tiles and engraved Koranic panels, now faded with age. The Arabic inscription along the top of the gate reads: "I am the most beautiful gate in Morocco. I’m like the moon in the sky. Property and wealth are written on my front."
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