The most beautiful religious buildings Morocco

This is the most colossal building in Volubilis, with a surface area of 1,000 m². The basilica did not have a religious function, as one might think, but a judicial one, where the central nave housed the courts. This kind of public place is found in all Roman cities. It is likely that the various administrations of Volubilis, including the Curia, the municipal council, were located here. The basilica and the Arc de Triomphe were the only two monuments still standing when the site was discovered at the end of the 19th century.

This architectural treasure merinid is in the grocers attarine) (hence the name of the medersa. Facing the mosque, this El-Karaouiyine medersa of rather modest size, for 60 students, was founded by Merinid in the 14th century. It is without doubt the monument most richly decorated with the city, with its zelliges is very elaborate, its plaster and carved covering all the upper floor of the walls. The wooden ceiling with carved cedar of the prayer room is a masterpiece of the time.

The mausoleum is located a few dozen meters above the main square. Take the alley that passes under an arch. At the entrance, the beam (about 1.50 m above the ground) reminds you that you should not venture any further if you are not a Muslim and forces you to bow as a sign of respect if you are. The mausoleum was restored in the 19th century by Moulay Abd er-Rahman. Hassan II donated the gold and silk fabric on which the coffin was built in 1978.

This sacred place shelters the tomb of Moulay Idriss II, under whose reign Fez became an imperial city, the first in Morocco. It is covered with a golden silk fabric, offered by the corporation of silk weavers, as well as the smaller one of his mother. It is a place of pilgrimage, where people come to invoke baraka, luck. The faithful will be able to touch the tomb of the holy man, a descendant of the Prophet's family, through a pierced copper plate.

This large church built near the district of Habous dates back to 1953, three years before the independence of Morocco. In the 1950 s, the city had around 450 000 foreigners from the Christian faith. Today, African students studying in Morocco constitute the majority of the faithful. Throughout the imposing concrete nave, stained glass windows were made by the master verrier of Chartres, Gabriel Loire. The series opens on a scene of the Apocalypse of Saint John, and then declines the themes related to the cult of the Immaculate Conception. Originality lies in the mix of performances of biblical scenes and historical episodes: a thesis of a Franciscan at the Sorbonne about the Virgin Mary, victory of the naval battle of Léparte dedicated to the Virgin… A set of stained glass windows that is worth looking at for the liveliness of its colors and the originality of its iconography.