Kasbah of the Udayas

A hilltop fortress at the mouth of the Bou Regreg, known for its ornate Bab Oudaia gate and blue-and-white lanes.

A kasbah is a walled fortress that once protected a town. This one is known for its grand gate, Bab Oudaia, and its quiet lanes of blue-and-white houses. It is listed, together with other sites in Rabat, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. Its origins go back to a ribat, a fortified outpost, of the 10th century, and the present kasbah dates from the 12th century.

A fortress on the river

The hill gave defenders a good view of the river mouth and the Atlantic coast, so it was a natural place for a fortress. In the 10th century the Umayyads of Cordoba or their allies founded a ribat here. The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min built a new kasbah around 1150 or 1151, with a palace and a mosque, and dug an underground canal to bring water to the area. His successor Yaqub al-Mansur later started a vast new imperial capital on the site of today's medina.

The great gate

The monumental gate, Bab Oudaia or Bab al-Kbir, was built by Yaqub al-Mansur between 1195 and 1199. It is considered one of the most beautiful gates of Almohad and Moroccan architecture, with a richly carved horseshoe arch and decoration on both its outer and inner faces. It was mostly ceremonial and had little defensive value.

Pirates, a royal pavilion and a garden

In 1609 Spain expelled the Moriscos, people of Muslim descent, and about 2,000 refugees from Hornachos settled around Sale and the kasbah, founding their own republic whose corsairs, or pirates, attacked merchant ships. Later Sultan Moulay Ismail built a palace pavilion, now a museum, and settled the Udayas tribe in the kasbah; the name Udaya stuck in the 19th century. A restoration began in 1914. Today you can visit the Andalusian Gardens and the Cafe Maure.

On the globe

The model shows the fortress on its hill with the ornate gate and blue-and-white lanes. Look for the big gate in the wall.