Bab er-Rouah (; also spelled Bab er-Ruwah or Bab Rouah) is a monumental

gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word is derived from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*gatan'', meaning an opening or passageway. Synonyms include yett (which comes from the same root w ...

in 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 ...

-era ramparts of

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. ...

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 ...

History

It was built by 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 ...

Ya'qub al-Mansur in the late 12th century, as part of the monumental capital he started building here. The gate and its adjoining ramparts were finished by 1197. 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 ...

name ''Bab ar-Ruwah'', meaning "Gate of the Winds", likely derives from the strong

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

winds which batter the city. The entrance archway of the gate today is smaller than it was originally because it has been partly filled-in with smaller stones. This reduction dates from the time of the Alaouite sultan Sidi Muhammad ibn Abdallah (second half of 18th century), who made similar adjustments to the Bab Agnaou gate in

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 ...

. Today the gate's interior has been converted into an art gallery. It was recently renovated in 2000–2001.

Architecture

The gate is notable for its defensive structure as well as for its rich stone-carved decoration which is comparable to other monumental Almohad gates such as Bab Oudaia to the north (also in Rabat) and to Bab Agnaou in

. The gate was built in reddish stone but the constant blow of the seaborne winds has changed much of its colour to a duller grey. The gate's exterior entrance is flanked by two bastion towers. The archway of the entrance was partially filled-in with a smaller arch under the Alaouite

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Muhammad ibn Abdallah in the second half of the 18th century. The decoration of the gate's outer façade includes three

concentric In geometry, two or more objects are said to be ''concentric'' when they share the same center. Any pair of (possibly unalike) objects with well-defined centers can be concentric, including circles, spheres, regular polygons, regular polyh ...

semi-circles carved with polylobed and radiating motifs, which are in turn framed inside a rectangular ''

alfiz The alfiz (, from Andalusi Arabic ''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Al ...

''. The two ends of the innermost semi-circle, at the spring of the arch, are carved into "S"-like serpentine forms which are also seen at Bab Oudaia but very rarely elsewhere. The spandrels between in the corners within this ''alfiz'' are carved with arabesque vegetal motifs in at the center of which is a carved seashell. The frame of the ''alfiz'' itself contains an Arabic inscription in Kufic script featuring a

Qur'anic 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 ...

verse, translated as the following: The gate's interior passage passes through four chambers and turns 90 degrees four times, constituting a complex bent entrance typical of Almohad military architecture. One of the chambers was originally open from above (but is sheltered by a roof today) so that the defenders could throw projectiles onto any attackers entering the gate. The inner façade of the gate, facing towards the city, is more simply decorated with a single polylobed semi-circle carved around the horseshoe archway, which is framed by a wide band filled with a '' sebka'' pattern.

References

{{Rabat Almohad architecture Gates in Morocco Buildings and structures in Rabat Buildings and structures completed in 1197