MOSQUE WITH GOLDEN APPLES
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Pommes d'Or Mosque, surmounting the minaret's lantern decorated with diamond-shaped knotwork and a turquoise earthenware frieze
As with other mosques to which access is restricted to Muslims (a fact that dates back to the Protectorate period), we're content to admire the exterior of this sober 80 m-wide edifice built in the 12th century, around 1190, under the reign of Yacoub el-Mansour. Inside, the central courtyard is surrounded by four smaller courtyards, each with an ablutions basin and simple arcaded porticoes. The prayer hall, less vast than that of the Koutoubia, has 11 naves over 3 bays perpendicular to the mihrab, reinforced with wooden capitals. The Kasbah Mosque, also known as the Moulay El Yazid Mosque, was destroyed in 1574 in an explosion. Restored several times, the mosque was then renamed the Pommes d'Or mosque, in allusion to the four golden copper balls that crown the minaret's lantern. Legend has it that the gold came from the jewelry of El Mansour's wife. Some of the storytellers in Jemaâ el-Fna Square will tell you the edifying story of the English and French prisoners who, in the 18th century, having managed to escape from their gaols, attempted to steal these golden apples and ended up with their heads cut off and displayed on the casements of Bab Agnaou. The minaret is decorated with diamond-shaped tracery, perfectly restored in the 17th century, and a turquoise earthenware frieze framed by two white bands: the first band represents the first sura of the Koran, the Fatiha. It has long been the prototype for Spanish-Moorish minarets.
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