03 Oct. 2023
At the heart of the High Atlas and built under the Almohad architecture along La Koutoubia Mosque Tinmel is a Moroccan masterpiece.
Built in 1156 in the heart of the High Atlas Mountains and restored in 1991 through funding from the ONA Foundation, the Tinmel mosque is an architectural jewel of the Almohad era that glorifies its founder "Mohamed Ibn Tumart".
The beauty of the place and the deep silence of the mountains accord with the spiritual spirit of this religious building. In barely 50 meters wide, this building Almohad rectangle-shaped structure is characterized by its architecture inspired by Andalusian-Maghreb. The architecture is typical of that era, traces of which are preserved today: the Koutoubia of Marrakech, the Hassan Tower in Rabat and the Giralda in Seville yet.
The Tinmel Mosque has six side doors arranged vis-a-vis four of which overlook the prayer room and two on the court. Its minaret is exceptional both by its rectangular shape than its location just behind the mihrab. You can see pieces of the medieval fortress, shelter royal cemetery and the remains of the founder Abdel Moumen and the spiritual master Ibn Tumart.
Income from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Tumart decides to overturn the sultans who became Almoravide according to him too decadent. This is the beginning of a long conquest that ended the Mahdi to the outskirts of Marrakech. With the capture of Marrakesh in 1147, Tinmel became a place of pilgrimage essential. The city then will experience its most glorious moments in the 12th century with the construction of a mint. The royal palace, of which there are only ruins today, was built there. After the decline of the Almohad Tinmel becomes again what it was before this event: a simple village in the middle of the High Atlas.
