Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of the Almoravid Koubba and the city around it.
On this page
City, pavilion and rediscovery
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1070–1072
A new city
The Almoravids found Marrakech.
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1117 or 1125
The pavilion is built
Ali ibn Yusuf builds the domed ablutions pavilion beside his mosque. Its inscription gives the day and month, but the year can no longer be read.
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1147
The Almohads take the city
Marrakech becomes the Almohad capital, and most Almoravid monuments are destroyed.
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Later centuries
Buried by the city
The mosque beside the koubba is completely rebuilt, and rising ground buries more than half of the pavilion under 7–8 metres of debris.
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1947
Found again
French scholars document the buried pavilion.
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1950s
Excavated and published
Archaeologists publish their excavation of the site, having avoided major reconstruction.
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1985
A World Heritage city
The medina of Marrakech is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below, checked 8 November 2026, provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
- Wikipedia: Almoravid Qubba
- Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports: The Almoravid Koubba
- UNESCO: Medina of Marrakesh
Links lead to the original publishers.