Terms

A tower attached to a mosque from which the call to prayer is issued. Moroccan minarets are distinctly square in plan, unlike the cylindrical Ottoman and round Mamluk forms found elsewhere in the Islamic world.

The Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech (1147–1199) established the canonical Moroccan minaret: square base, 1:5 width-to-height ratio, lantern crown. Its proportions were replicated in the Giralda (Seville) and Hassan Tower (Rabat). The Hassan II Mosque minaret in Casablanca, at 210 meters, is the world's tallest.

A projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood latticework. Allows occupants to observe the street below without being seen. Provides ventilation while filtering harsh sunlight.

While more common in Cairene architecture, mashrabiya appears in Moroccan medinas particularly in Fes and Tetouan, where Andalusian refugees brought the technique in the 15th–17th centuries. The latticework creates complex light patterns and naturally cools incoming air through evaporation.

The French term for mashrabiya, commonly used in Morocco due to the colonial period. Refers specifically to the turned-wood lattice screens used in windows and balconies.

Studio KO's Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (2017) reinterprets the moucharabieh at monumental scale — the building's terracotta brick facade is essentially a giant latticework screen, filtering light and referencing traditional craft at contemporary scale.

An underground irrigation channel that uses gravity to bring water from an aquifer to the surface, without any pumping mechanism. The Moroccan equivalent of the Persian qanat.

Marrakech was built on khettaras — over 550 channels once irrigated the Haouz plain. Most are now dry due to falling water tables and modern pumping. The Palmeraie of Marrakech (100,000+ palm trees) was sustained entirely by khettaras for 900 years. UNESCO has listed the irrigation system as intangible heritage.

Hand-cut geometric mosaic tilework, a defining element of Moroccan architecture since the 10th century. Each piece (tessera) is individually chiseled from a glazed tile to create mathematically precise interlocking patterns.

Harvard's metaLAB discovered quasi-crystalline structures in zellige patterns in 2019 — the same mathematics that earned Dan Shechtman the Nobel Prize in 2011. Moroccan maalemin had been laying quasi-crystals for eight centuries. The craft uses 360 named shapes in Darija. There are an estimated 10,000 active zellige surfaces in Fes alone. A master maalem earns 300–500 DH per day.

A three-dimensional decorative vaulting composed of small, nested concave cells arranged in tiers. Often called "honeycomb" or "stalactite" vaulting in English. Used to transition between flat walls and domed ceilings.

The Bou Inania Medersa in Fes (1351–1356) contains some of Morocco's finest muqarnas work, with carved stucco cells arranged in mathematically precise formations. The technique arrived in Morocco with the Almoravid dynasty from al-Andalus in the 11th century.

Carved stucco plaster, one of the three great decorative arts of Moroccan architecture alongside zellige (tilework) and carved cedar. Wet plaster is incised with geometric, floral, and calligraphic patterns.

Gebs is the most perishable of Morocco's decorative arts — it requires constant maintenance against humidity and vibration. The Saadian Tombs in Marrakech (1578) represent a high point of the art, with layers of carved stucco creating shadow-play effects as light shifts through the day.

A waterproof lime plaster technique originating in Morocco, traditionally used in hammams and water vessels. Made from limestone fired at 900°C from the Marrakech region, burnished with river stones and sealed with olive oil soap.

Tadelakt is waterproof, antimicrobial, and self-healing through ongoing carbonation. Bill Willis transformed it from a hammam finish into a high-design material in the 1960s–70s, applying it to entire rooms for international clients. Genuine tadelakt costs 600–900 DH per square meter; cement-based imitations cost a third as much but crack within two years.

Rammed earth construction, one of Morocco's oldest and most widespread building techniques. Layers of damp earth are compacted within wooden formwork to create load-bearing walls up to 60 cm thick.

Pisé walls dominate southern Morocco — the kasbahs of Aït Benhaddou, the ksour of the Draa Valley, and the city walls of Marrakech are all rammed earth. The material provides natural insulation (cool in summer, warm in winter) and is seismically flexible. Without maintenance, pisé erodes at roughly 1 cm per decade.

A traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden, organized around a central courtyard with a fountain. The term derives from the Arabic "ryad" meaning garden. Distinguished from a dar by the presence of planted garden space.

A riad has four planted beds arranged symmetrically around a central fountain, representing the four rivers of paradise described in the Quran. The exterior walls are deliberately plain — all beauty faces inward. Fes has an estimated 9,000 traditional riads; Marrakech approximately 3,500.

A traditional Moroccan house built around a central courtyard, typically paved rather than planted. Smaller and simpler than a riad. The word means "house" in Arabic.

The distinction matters: a dar has a paved courtyard; a riad has a garden. Most properties marketed as "riads" in Morocco's tourism industry are technically dars. The courtyard provides light, ventilation, and privacy in the dense urban fabric of the medina.

An Islamic theological college, typically attached to a mosque. Moroccan medersas are among the most architecturally refined buildings in the Islamic world, combining all three decorative arts (zellige, gebs, carved cedar) in a single structure.

The Marinid dynasty (1244–1465) built Morocco's greatest medersas as instruments of political legitimacy. The Bou Inania in Fes (1351–1356) is the only medersa in Morocco with its own minaret, signaling that it doubled as a congregational mosque — an extraordinary claim of authority.

A fortified citadel or the fortified quarter of a city. In southern Morocco, refers to the fortified residence of a local chief (caïd), typically built of pisé with corner towers.

The most famous is Aït Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage ksar (fortified village) on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. The Kasbah of the Udayas in Rabat, built by the Almohads in the 12th century, is among the oldest surviving urban kasbahs in Morocco.

A fortified village in southern Morocco, built of pisé and typically containing multiple families. Plural: ksour. Distinguished from a kasbah, which houses a single family or leader.

The Draa Valley alone contains over 300 ksour, most dating from the 16th–19th centuries. Aït Benhaddou is technically a ksar, not a kasbah — it housed an entire community within its walls. The collective architecture reflects a society organized by tribal assembly rather than central authority.

A commercial inn and warehouse in a medina, built around a central courtyard. Ground floor for storage and animals; upper floors for merchant lodging. The ancestor of the modern word "hotel" (via the Ottoman/Arabic funduq).

Fes had over 200 fondouks at its peak as a trading capital. Many have been converted to workshops, particularly for leather and textile crafts. The fondouk is a purely functional building type — no decorative arts, just load-bearing walls and a courtyard open to the sky.

An Islamic place of worship. Moroccan mosques follow a hypostyle plan with a prayer hall of parallel aisles perpendicular to the qibla wall, which faces Mecca. Non-Muslims cannot enter mosques in Morocco, with one exception: the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.

Morocco has an estimated 41,000 mosques. The Koutoubia (Marrakech, 1147) set the template: square minaret, horseshoe arches, green-tiled roof. The Hassan II Mosque (1993) broke every precedent — retractable roof, laser beam, 26,000 steel piles driven into the Atlantic seabed.

A public bathhouse, an essential institution in Islamic urban life. Moroccan hammams follow a sequence of progressively hotter rooms: cold room, warm room, hot room. The architectural form is Roman in origin.

Every neighborhood in a traditional medina has its own hammam. Fes has over 100 functioning public hammams. The building type requires thick walls to retain heat, domed ceilings with star-shaped skylights for ventilation, and a furnace (typically wood-fired) heating water and steam. Tadelakt plaster is the traditional waterproof interior finish.

The old walled city, the historic core of a Moroccan urban center. The word simply means "city" in Arabic. Morocco's medinas are characterized by narrow pedestrian streets (derbs), blind alleys, and inward-facing architecture.

Fes el-Bali is the world's largest car-free urban area. Morocco's medinas survived the 20th century because of Lyautey's 1912 dual-city policy: build villes nouvelles beside them, never through them. In Algeria, the French bulldozed the Casbah. In Morocco, every medieval medina stands intact.

A narrow lane or alley within a medina, typically a dead end. Also refers to the neighborhood served by that alley. Most derbs are less than 2 meters wide.

The derb is the basic unit of neighborhood identity in a Moroccan medina. Residents of a derb share responsibility for its maintenance, security, and the gates that once closed at night. Fes el-Bali has an estimated 9,400 derbs.

The modern European-planned city built alongside a traditional medina during the French Protectorate (1912–1956). Characterized by wide boulevards, Art Deco architecture, and a grid layout.

Henri Prost master-planned the villes nouvelles of Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Meknes, and Marrakech under Lyautey's direction. The explicit policy was urban apartheid — separate French and Moroccan cities — but the unintended consequence was architectural preservation on a national scale.

A market or commercial district within a medina, typically organized by trade. Each souk specializes in one product: leather, carpets, spices, metalwork, textiles.

The souk system is an urban planning principle: noxious trades (tanneries, dyeing) are placed downwind at the medina's edge; prestigious trades (perfume, silk, books) cluster near the central mosque. Fes's tanneries have operated in the same location since the 11th century.

A master craftsman in traditional Moroccan building arts. The title is earned through years of apprenticeship, not formal education. Specializations include zellige, woodcarving, stucco, and plasterwork.

A zellige maalem works on his knees, cutting each tessera by hand with a sharp hammer. The apprenticeship typically lasts 8–12 years. Morocco's maalemin (plural) are aging — the average is over 50 — and fewer young men enter the trade. A skilled maalem earns 300–500 DH per day, roughly €30–50.