MANSOURAH

In the last year of the 13th century, as the siege against Tlemcen was prolonged, the Merinid sultan of Fez, Abu Yacoub, had a royal residence and dwellings built in the immediate vicinity to accommodate his troops during the winter. The new city was surrounded by a wall and modestly called the "camp of victory", El-Mahala El-Mansourah. During the eight years of the severe blockade of Tlemcen, the camp of Mansourah recovered the commercial activities of the besieged city and developed until it seriously competed with its neighbor. Caravanserais were built to house the caravans, baths and a mosque and the city took on the appearance of a regional capital. When Abu Yacoub was assassinated by one of his slaves, the too young Mansourah did not resist to the defensive surge of the besieged of Tlemcen which pushed the Merinides out of the walls of Tlemcen the New.

But in 1335, Abu El-Hassan, returns to the charge and leaves no chance to Tlemcen. Mansourah was made the capital of the Merinid government, dominated by the Victory Palace built at that time. Later, when Tlemcen regained some of its strength, Mansourah declined until it was dismantled and razed. There is not much left of it except a few building elements recycled during the construction of other mosques, pieces of the 4,000 m of enclosure and the Mausalah, and, above all, the minaret of the mosque, 40 m high, and a monumental porch which opens only on the sky.