Marinid Madrassa in Salé
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A madrassa is a building or group of buildings used for teaching Islamic theology and religious law, typically including a mosque.
[Arabic madrasa, from darasa, to study.]
We saw what seemed to be dozens of madrassas but when I checked through my photographs there were not, after all, that many. I am afraid that I have plaigerised and edited the following descriptions from guide books and many sites on the internet.
Salé - this madrassa is open as a museum. Like other Marinid Madrassas it follows a familiar formula with the walls displaying intricate stucco and carved cedar wood. Students once occupied the small cells around the gallery.
Sahrij Madrassa is a Koranic school in Fez. It was built in 1321 and named after its ablution pool (or sahrij in Arabic).
The Bu 'Inaniyya Madrasa in Fez is perhaps the most celebrated of the many madrasas founded by the Marinids. The madrasa bears the name of its founder, the Marinid Sultan Faris b. 'Ali, Abu Inan al-Mutawakkil. It simultaneously functioned as both an educational institute and as a congregational mosque, and accommodated shops and a large public latrine along the front façade.
Its multiple functions are accommodated in a symmetrical plan in which student rooms, the prayer hall, and flanking domed halls surround a large courtyard.
Ali Bin Yousuf Madrassa was a well known Islamic college in Marrakech and was named after Sultan Ali Bin Yusuf (reined 1106–1142), who contributed greatly towards the growth and expansion of the city. It, was established during the period of the Merinid (14th century) by the Merinid sultan Abu al-Hassan.
 These two pictures depict country and city students' rooms |
 They are in the Ben Youssef Madrassa in Marrakesh |
The Madrasa was reconstructed by the Saadian Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib. It has 130 student dormitory cells around a courtyard richly carved in cedar, marble and stucco. The carvings contain no representation of humans or animals as required by Islam, and consists completely of inscriptions and geometric designs. Closed down in 1960, the building was renovated and reopened to the public as a historical site in 1982.
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