MANSOURAH

In the last year of the ^13th century, as his siege of Tlemcen dragged on, the Merinid sultan of Fez, Abu Yacoub, had a royal residence and winter quarters built in the immediate vicinity. The new city was surrounded by a wall and modestly named the "victory camp", El-Mahala El-Mansourah. During the eight years of Tlemcen's severe blockade, the Mansourah camp took over the commercial activities of the besieged city and developed into a serious competitor to its neighbor. Caravanserais were built to house caravans, baths and a mosque, and the town took on the appearance of a regional capital. When Abou Yacoub was murdered by one of his slaves, the too-young Mansourah could not resist the defensive surge of the besieged Tlemcen, who drove the Merinids from the walls of Tlemcen la Neuve.

But in 1335, Abou El-Hassan returned to the charge and left Tlemcen no chance. Mansourah was restored to its former glory and made the capital of the Merinid government, dominated by the Victory Palace built at the time. Later, when Tlemcen regained some of its strength, Mansourah declined until it was dismantled and razed to the ground. There's not much left of it, apart from a few recycled building elements used in the construction of other mosques, pieces of the 4,000 m enclosure and the Mausalah, and, above all, the mosque's 40 m-high minaret and monumental porch that opens only onto the sky.