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Bab Agnaou ( or ), also transliterated as Bab Agnaw, is one of the best-known gates of
Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
,
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. Its construction is attributed to the
Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...
caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur and was completed around 1188 or 1190. The gate was the main public entrance to the royal kasbah (citadel) in the southern part of the
medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
of Marrakesh. The Kasbah, built by Yaqub al-Mansur, is the site of the nearby El Mansouria Mosque (or Kasbah Mosque) and the Saadian Tombs behind it, as well as the
El Badi Palace El Badi Palace or Badi' Palace (, also frequently translated as the "Incomparable Palace") is a ruined palace located in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was commissioned by the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of the Saadian dynasty a few months after his accessio ...
and the main Royal Palace (''Dar al- Makhzen'') of the city.


Etymology

The word ''bab'' (, ) comes from the
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word meaning 'Gate' or 'Door'. The name ''agnaou'' is believed to be of
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
origin and had multiple historically reported meanings including " mutes" and, later on, "
Black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
" (or the
Gnawa The Gnawa () (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi'; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting Morocco, that had been brought as slaves from the West African Sahel. The name Gnawa originated in the indigenous language of North Africa and the Sahara, Sahar ...
); however, it's unclear what exact connotation the name had in this case. It might also be translated to "a sheep without horns". The potential reference to the Gnawa might be explained by the fact that the gate is in the southern part of the city and faces partly southwards, thus away from
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and more towards
sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
. The gate was also called ''Bab al-Qasr'' ("Gate of the Palace") and ''Bab al-Kuhl'' ("Gate of Kohl").


Design

It is located just inside the walls of the main city (medina), near Bab er-Robb, at the northwestern corner of the Kasbah. The function of the gate was primarily decorative, given its location already inside the city walls. The gate was nonetheless originally flanked by two
bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
towers crowned with
merlon A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The sp ...
s and the passage inside was a bent entrance (meaning it turned 90 degrees before exiting) passing through a large vaulted vestibule. On top of the gate was a terrace reached by an interior staircase. This original layout made it similar to other monumental Almohad gates such as Bab er-Rouah in
Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
. The flanking towers and the covered vestibule, however, have since disappeared, and the archway of the gate has been partly filled-in with a smaller and simpler brick arch. The reduction of the archway likely dates from the time of the Alaouite sultan Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah, who carried out numerous works in the area of the Kasbah. The current small open courtyard behind the gate is the result of later work. Nonetheless, the gate has preserved its rich stone-carved decoration from the Almohad period, again comparable to that of Bab er-Rouah and of Bab Oudaia in Rabat. The façade consists of sandstone, likely quarried in the Gueliz area near Marrakesh. The original arch of the gate is surrounded by alternating semi-circular bands that alternate between radiating lines and interlacing arch motifs. The
spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...
s (corner areas) are covered in floral motifs (
arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...
s), each with a carved shell in the middle. All of this ornamentation is in turn framed by a long frieze carved with an inscription from the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
in foliated
Kufic The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...
letters. The inscription includes excerpts from the Surah al-Hijr. On either side of the decorated facade are
pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
s which are sometimes thought to have supported a canopy or
awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of Acrylic fiber, acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tight ...
but which is believed by many scholars to have been merely a decorative transition between the decorated facade and the flanking bastions of the gate.


State of conservation

The stone materials of the gate has suffered over time. Some of the upper stone decoration has deteriorated. The causes of the decay have been attributed to the presence of soluble salts, particularly
chlorides The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pr ...
and
sulfates The sulfate or sulphate ion is a Polyatomic ion, polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salt (chemistry), ...
, present in the mortar used to fix the stones. Local air pollution is also having a negative effect on the state of the gate.


See also

* Bab Ksiba *
Giralda The Giralda ( ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style belfry added by the Catholics ...
* Hassan Tower * Koutoubia Mosque *
Menara gardens The Menara Gardens () are a historic public garden and orchard in Marrakech, Morocco. They were established in the 12th century (circa 1157) by the Almohad Caliphate ruler Abd al-Mu'min. Along with the Agdal Gardens and the historic walled city ...


References


External links


Agnaou Gate in Manar al-Athar digital photo archive
{{Marrakesh Gates of Marrakesh Almohad architecture Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Tourist attractions in Marrakesh