The Mouassine Mosque is part of a sixteenth-century religious complex. Although it isn’t the city’s most interesting mosque, it has an impressive four-bay fountain and marks an important junction in the souks.

History

The Mouassine neighbourhood was previously the city’s main Jewish quarter. When he moved the Jews into the Mellah, Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib (ruled 1557–74) commissioned a mosque on what had been their cemetery. The mosque was part of a whole complex including a medersa (Koranic school), library, hospital, hammam (bathhouse) and public fountain.

The Mouassine Fountain

The Mouassine Fountain, just east of the mosque, is one of the city’s finest public fountains. It has four bays. The right-hand bay was for drinking water and is topped with a beautifully carved wooden lintel. The other three bays were for animals or ablutions, and are much plainer.