Dictionary of islamic architecture

Further reading:
G.R.D.King, 
Historical Mosques of Saudi Arabia,
London
and New York 1986.
J.Sauvaget, 
La Mosauée Omeyyade de Medine. Études sur les
origines architecturales de la mosquée et de la basilique,
Paris
1947.
W.M.Watt and R.B.Winder, ‘Al-Madina’, 
Encyclopaedia of
Islam,
new edn. , 5: 994–1007, 1986.
A.Youssef, ‘Al Haramain: a development study’, in 
Hajj
in focus,
ed. Z.I.Khan and Y.Zaki, London 1986.
Meknes
Former capital of Morocco located on a high plateau
between Fez and Rabat.
The city of Meknes was founded by the Al-moravids
in the eleventh century, before that period the site was
occupied by a cluster of small villages. The city
suffered from the Almohad conquest in 1150, although
it was later restored and in the thirteenth century was
provided with an aqueduct, bridges and a madrassa.
The city reached its peak under the Sa
adians who
adopted it as their capital in the seventeenth century.
Under the sultan Moulay Ismail the city was enclosed
by a triple wall with a perimeter of more than 30 km
pierced by twenty gates. To the south of the city is a
huge separate enclosure reserved for the sultan which
contains two palaces, one for the sultan and one for
his wives and 500 concubines. The palaces were built
as a series of gardens connected by pavilions
supported on marble columns. There are a total of
forty-five separate pavilions within the grounds, as
well as four mosques and twenty domed tombs
containing the graves of sultans and their families. To
support the palace there was a huge granary, store
house, stables, an army camp and palatial residences
for the officials.
See also:
Morocco
Mérida
City in south-west Spain noted for its Roman ruins and
early Islamic fortress.
The fortress is located next to the river Guadiana and
the famous Roman bridge. It is probably a
continuation of an older structure, although it was
substantially altered to its present form in 835
according to an inscription found in the fortress (now
in the local museum). It is similar to sixth- and
seventh-century Byzantine forts of North Africa
although the arches above the gateways are
horseshoe-shaped indicating their Islamic
provenance.
Medina (Madina al-Monawwara)

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The fortress is essentially a large square enclo-
sure (130 m per side) with solid rectangular buttress
towers and three gateways. The gateway leading
from the Roman bridge is in the form of a gate-house
flanked by two massive towers. The only
contemporary structure within the fortress is a cistern
which took water directly from the river via a tunnel.
Entry to the cistern is from a barrel-vaulted corridor
with staircases at either end and doorways in the
side which lead to the cistern. The jambs of the
doorways and other parts of the cistern include re-
used Visigothic building stones.