A place to wash before prayer
The koubba stood beside the Ben Youssef Mosque, then the main mosque of Marrakech, and is generally understood to have been part of its ablutions facility, or mida’a, where worshippers washed before prayer. Under the dome is a water basin, edged with a thin trench to drain spilled water.
A fountain on the street
Beside the pavilion stood a fountain about 14.5 by 4.5 metres, open to the street through three arches. Each bay held a basin, with a water trough along the back wall. It resembles later wall fountains in Marrakech, such as that of the Mouassine Mosque.
A cistern behind the walls
Bronze pipes carried water from a cistern covered by a barrel vault, behind the fountain. Its supply probably came from khettaras, the underground channels that brought water across the plain to the city.
