The Qaraouine Mosque is one of the major monuments of Islamic religious architecture in Fez. The mosque, which was founded in 859 at the expense of a wealthy woman, Fatima, a refugee from Kairouan, has become the most majestic monument of this city.
The mosque with a total area of about 1600 square metres can accommodate more than 20 thousand worshippers at a time. Throughout its history, the building has been rebuilt and enlarged several times. The most significant reconstruction of the mosque took place in 1135-1142 during the reign of Sultan Ali, who donated for the mosque one of the best minbar in the Arab world.
The Qaraouin Mosque is a columned mosque. Seventeen doors of the mosque lead to a spacious courtyard paved with black and white stone tiles. In the very centre of the courtyard is a beautiful marble pool for ritual ablutions, on the edges you can see pergolas decorated with carved marble columns. The prayer hall is divided by columns into seventeen even aisles. It is quite large and well organised. As for the ceiling of the mosque, it was made in a very complex and unique technique of bee honeycomb - "mukarna".
Of the domes, the most remarkable is a small and surprisingly beautiful tent dome located in front of the mihrab and built in 1136-1143. Another equally beautiful stalactite dome decorates the memorial part of the mosque, which is connected to the prayer hall by three doors.
Near the memorial hall is the famous Jamiat al-Qarawiyyin Library, established in 1349 on the initiative of Marinid Sultan Abu Inan. The library has attracted scholars from many countries for several centuries with its rich collection of manuscripts.
The Qaraouin Mosque has also become famous for hosting one of the oldest universities in the world. In the XII century it had 8 thousand students, thanks to which the university is still the largest intellectual centre of the Arab East.
