Grand Chamber at the Saadian Tombs

The Saaidan Tombs is a necropolis for the rulers of Morocco back in the Saadian Dynasty. It is not strictly limited to the rulers of Saadian dynasty as the succeeding Alaouite dynasty rulers also found their way in here. I guess it sort of became a status symbol to be buried here especially if you were royalty. There are a number of mausoleums here in the necropolis. Believed to be the oldest mausoleum in the necropolis is the Chamber of Lalla Mas’uda. You can argue that it was this chamber that the Saadian Tombs became the Saadian tombbs. The founder of the dynasty Sultan Muhammad al-Sheikh was first buried here. Along with Al-Sheikh is his concubine Lalla Mas’uda for whom the chamber is itself was named.

This is a rather simple mausoleum when compared to the grand one near the entrance. I cannot see the actual chamber from here as visitors can only see from the Grand Chamber which isn’t really that grand. Still, there were several tombs here despite it looking more like someone’s house. There are a series of archways which lead to the Chamber of Lalla Mas’uda. I wonder how it actually looks like. Visitors are not allowed in the chamber either and can only look from the outside. I guess we are out of luck. At least we got to see the most important part of the necropolis.

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