Moulay Idriss

Moulay Idriss Zerhoun is a municipality in Meknes prefecture¹, which belongs to the Fez-Meknes region.² In the 2024 census it had 10,038 inhabitants in 2,947 households.³ The town was founded on Mount Zerhoun⁴ and borders the archaeological site of Volubilis at the foot of Jebel Zerhoun.⁵

According to the description Morocco submitted to UNESCO in 1995, Idris I founded the town at the end of the 8th century; the text presents him as the founder of the first Islamic state in Morocco. The town’s spiritual standing gave rise to several shrines, the most important of which is the mausoleum of Moulay Idriss.⁶ Neighbouring Volubilis was briefly the capital of Idris I.⁷ He had allied himself with the Berber tribes of the area in 789, above all the Awraba, and died in 791.⁸

Volubilis was founded in the 3rd century BC as the capital of Mauretania and later became an important outpost of the Roman Empire. The archaeological site covers 42 hectares within the Roman city wall of AD 168–169; mosaics, marble and bronze statues and hundreds of inscriptions attest to ten centuries of settlement up to the Islamic period.⁹ Volubilis has been a World Heritage Site since 1997 under criteria ii, iii, iv and vi, with a buffer zone of 4,200 hectares.¹⁰

A tomb for Idris I probably stood on this spot from the time of his death. In 1318 his remains are said to have been rediscovered here, and under the Marinids the annual moussem in August took shape.¹¹ Sultan Moulay Ismail had the mausoleum demolished and rebuilt on a larger scale between 1719 and 1721. In 1822 Sultan Moulay Abderrahmane had the mosque rebuilt larger, and under Sidi Mohammed (1859–1873) the Meknes craftsman Ibn Makhlouf added tilework.¹²

The town spreads over two neighbouring hills, Khiber and Tasga, which form its two main districts; between them stands the complex around the mausoleum with its green-tiled pyramidal roof.¹³ On the higher Khiber hill are the Sentissi Mosque, built in 1939, with a round minaret of green tiles and white Kufic lettering, and the tomb of Sidi Abdallah el Hajjam.¹⁴

UNESCO points out that the town holds the tomb of the dynasty’s founder and is the destination of an annual pilgrimage.¹⁵ The cultural heritage directorate of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs submitted Moulay Idriss Zerhoun to the Tentative List on 1 July 1995, citing criteria ii, iv and vi and an Islamic architecture that blends into the town’s cultural setting.¹⁶