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The Art of the Almoravid and Almohad Periods (ca. 1062–1269)
Textile fragment [Spain]
Map of Almoravid and Almohad dominion

Area of Almoravid and Almohad dominion, ca. 1062–1269.
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Minbar, Kutubiyya Mosque

Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh, wood minbar (H. 12 ft. 10 in.; W. 2 ft. 10 1/4 in.; D. 11 ft. 4 1/4 in).
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Detail of minbar, Kutubiyya Mosque Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh, detail of carved panels and marquetry strapwork.
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 The Almoravid dynasty (al-Murabitun, ca. 1062–1150), a newly emerged Islamic power in North Africa, ethnically more Berber than Arab, conquered Morocco and founded Marrakesh as its capital in 1062. Led by Yusuf ibn Tashufin, the Almoravids entered al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) after the fall of Toledo in 1085 in response to the Ta’ifa leaders' pleas for help in repelling the Christian armies of northern Spain. They assumed control of al-Andalus in 1090, while maintaining their primary seat of government in Marrakesh. In this way, the Almoravids came to rule parts of the Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, and Spain and controlled important ports as well as trans-Saharan trade.

Repudiating the lack of piety and what they considered to be the decadence of the Ta’ifa kings, and following the conservative Malikiyya school of Islamic law, the Almoravids disdained as well the opulent arts of the Spanish Muslims. Although they began by sponsoring austere programs of architectural decoration, their later monuments and textile manufactory in Almería indicate that the Almoravids eventually succumbed to the luxury culture of al-Andalus. Especially spectacular from this period is the minbar from the Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh, commissioned in 1137 by the last Almoravid sultan, cAli ibn Yusuf (r. 1106–42), for his congregational mosque. In North Africa, the mosques of Algiers (ca. 1097), Tlemcen (1136), and Qarawiyin in Fez (1135) are important architectural examples from this period.

In the mid-twelfth century, the Almoravids were replaced by the Almohads (al-Muwahhidun, 1150–1269), a new Berber dynasty from North Africa. By 1150, the Almohads had taken Morocco as well as Sevilla, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Almería in the Iberian Peninsula. The Almohads made Sevilla their capital in al-Andalus, while retaining Marrakesh as their center of power in North Africa. Following the Almohad defeat by the combined armies of Aragon and Castile at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, a turning point in the peninsula's history, al-Andalus once again fractured into tribute-paying principalities, vulnerable to the depredations of Christian kingdoms. These principalities, except for Nasrid-ruled Granada, soon lost their sovereignty.

As religious reformation was integral to the Almohad establishment, their courts in Marrakesh and Sevilla became centers of Islamic learning. In Almohad arts, a rigorous style saw the increasing schematization of ornament and the continued use of geometric design. The Great Mosque and the minaret called La Giralda, which they built in Sevilla, are paradigms of Almohad style. In North Africa, architectural developments included the walls of Fez, Rabat, and Marrakesh and the mosques of Taza (1142), the Kutubiyya (Marrakesh, 1147–58), Tinmal (1153–54), the Qasba (Marrakesh, 1195), and Hasan (Rabat, 1199; unfinished).


Africa, Western North Africa , Religious Art, Islam, Europe, geography, Iberian Peninsula, Islamic World, Trade and Travel (1000-1400 A.D.), Islamic Art in the Medieval Period

Department of Islamic Art

Empires of the Western Sudan: Ghana Empire, Calligraphy in Islamic Art, Figural Representation in Islamic Art, Geometric Patterns in Islamic Art, The Nature of Islamic Art, Trade and the Spread of Islam in Africa, Umayyad Period in Spain, Vegetal Patterns in Islamic Art, Byzantium, Abridged List of Rulers: Islamic World, Birth of Islam,

Iberian Peninsula, 1000-1400 A.D., Western North Africa (The Mahgrib), 1000-1400 A.D., Western Sudan, 500-1000 A.D., Western and Central Sudan, 1000-1400 A.D.,

Africa, 1000-1400 A.D.