Ben Youssef Medersa
Stunningly ornate Koranic school - مدرسة ابن يوسف
The Ben Youssef Medesrsa was the Ben Youssef Mosque's Koranic school. It's decorated with superb zellij (tilework), carved stucco and carved cedar work that is totally classic and beautifully worked.
The medersa was originally set up by the Merinid “black sultan”, Abu al-Hassan (ruled 1331–48), at much the same time as the medersas in the Merenid capital, Fez. It's one of the few projects that the Merenids undertook here in Marrakesh, but it was completely rebuilt in 1565 under the Marrakesh-based Saadian dynasty.
Text © Daniel Jacobs
Images by Dafydd Vaughan, Daniel Jacobs, James Byrum, jon collier, *SHERWOOD*