Rissani and Sijilmassa

This south-eastern area of Morocco is known as this Tafilalt. It has been disproportionately important in moroccan history as many dynasties had their origins there including the current Alaouite dynasty. The main building dominating the centre of modern Rissani, situated next to the army base, is the Foundation for the Study of Alaouite Heritage.

In medieval times the area was a separate kingdom whose capital was Sijilmassa, adjacent to modern Rissani. 

Before 771 the local Berbers had been converted to a form of Islam and had started to build the city of Sijilmassa. They used a Koran in the Berber language, something heretical to mainstream Sunnis. Whilst the Idrissids were establishing a kingdom in northern Morocco, from 771 Sijilmassa established a separate Kingdom which lasted until 1055 when it was taken over by the Almorovids who imposed a strict version of Islam, smashing all musical instruments. The city remained important into the 14thC and was extremely wealthy due to it's being the northern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade route bringing gold from Ghana. Eventually the southern end of the route moved east into Mali due to the discovery of new gold fields and the branch leading through Tamegoute to Marrakesh increased in importance. Ibn Battuta visited Sijilmassa in 1352 and found it a beautiful and rich city but by the time Leo Africanus visited in the early 16C it was destroyed and he saw only stately ruins. 
Although there were still obvious ruins at the beginning of the 20thC these have all crumbled and the only remains are one gate which we did not have time to look for.
Rissani itself has a good modern entrance arch

but the most noticeable feature of the town, in common with many in the Tafilalt, was the numerous murals painted on walls and gable ends. 90% feature water either as a river,lake, waterfall or fountain, and the ones pictured here are by no means the best but just convenient for where we could stop the car.