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50 free Marrakech trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Marrakech was founded around 1070 as the capital of a Berber dynasty whose empire ran from Senegal to Spain, and for centuries the whole of Morocco was simply called the Kingdom of Marrakesh. Its red clay walls, 77-metre minaret and the nightly circus of Jemaa el-Fnaa now draw more than two million visitors a year, from Churchill at La Mamounia to the hippies of the 1960s and the French jet set who bought up its riads. These 50 questions cover the whole story: the Almoravids and Almohads, the Saadian golden age and El Badi Palace, the seven patron saints, Pasha El Glaoui and the French Protectorate, the 1985 UNESCO listing, the 1994 agreement that created the World Trade Organization, the 2016 climate conference, and the 2023 earthquake. There are landmark questions on the Koutoubia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Menara and Agdal gardens, the Majorelle Garden and its blue villa, the Mellah and the Saadian Tombs, and culture questions on Gnaoua music, tanjia marrakshia, ras el hanout, the souks, the film festival and the Formula E circuit. Easy questions stay with the country, the nickname and the square; the hardest reach for dynasties, dates and twin towns. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a travel quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Marrakech ranks where among Morocco's cities by size?
Fourth-largest
It is one of the country's four imperial cities and the capital of the Marrakesh-Safi region.
Q 02What colour gives Marrakech its famous nickname?
Red
The walls of orange-red clay and chalk were built by Ali ibn Yusuf in 1122–1123.
Q 03Which mountain range rises to the south-east of Marrakech?
Atlas Mountains
Snow on the High Atlas is visible from the city on clear winter days.
Q 04Marrakech lies in the valley of which river?
Tensift
The Ourika valley, a popular day trip, is about 30 km to the south.
Q 05Which dynasty founded Marrakech around 1070 as its capital?
Almoravids
Chieftain Abu Bakr ibn Umar founded it; its emirate stretched from Senegal to central Spain.
Q 06Which ruler built the city's red walls in 1122–1123?
Ali ibn Yusuf
The ramparts run about 19 km around the medina with 20 gates and 200 towers.
Q 07Roughly how far do the medina ramparts stretch?
19 km
They stand up to 19 feet high and are made of orange-red clay and chalk.
Q 08Which movement captured Marrakech in 1147 after a months-long siege?
The Almohads
Abd al-Mu'min then founded the Koutoubia Mosque next to the old Almoravid palace.
Q 09Which city took over as capital when the Marinids conquered Marrakech in 1269?
Fez
Marrakech regained capital status under the Saadians in the 16th century.
Q 10Which Saadian sultan began El Badi Palace in 1578?
Ahmad al-Mansur
It used Italian marble and was built mainly to host ambassadors from Spain, England and the Ottomans.
Q 11How many patron saints of Marrakech do Sufi pilgrims visit in sequence?
Seven
The festival was founded during the late 17th-century reign of Moulay Ismail.
Q 12Who was Pasha of Marrakech for almost the entire French Protectorate?
T'hami El Glaoui
The 'Lord of the Atlas' plotted to replace Sultan Mohammed V and fell when the sultan returned in 1955.
Q 13In which year did Morocco regain independence from France?
1956
A protocol was signed on 2 March 1956 after Mohammed V returned from exile in Madagascar.
Q 14Until 1867, which group could not enter the city without the sultan's special permission?
Q 21Marrakech's medina is home to how many souks?
18
They employ more than 40,000 people in pottery, copperware, leather and other crafts.
Q 22What is the meaning historians consider most plausible for the name Jemaa el-Fnaa?
Ruined mosque
A late 16th-century mosque begun in the square was never finished and fell into ruin.
Q 23How tall is the Koutoubia Mosque's minaret, the city's tallest?
77 metres
It likely influenced the Giralda in Seville and the Hassan Tower in Rabat.
Q 24Which Almohad caliph founded the Koutoubia Mosque in 1147?
European Christians
East European Jews were permitted entry.
Q 15Which fashion designer bought and restored the Majorelle Garden?
Yves Saint Laurent
A stele in the garden honours him; the villa is painted a vivid dark blue.
Q 16Who originally created the Majorelle Garden?
A landscape painter
Jacques Majorelle's garden has been open to the public since 1947 and holds plants from five continents.
Q 17In which year did UNESCO list the medina of Marrakech as a World Heritage Site?
1985
The listing includes Jemaa el-Fnaa, the souks and the Koutoubia Mosque.
Q 18Which international body was established by the Marrakesh Agreement of 15 April 1994?
The World Trade Organization
Three years later the city hosted the first World Water Forum.
Q 19Which UN event did Marrakech host in November 2016?
A Climate Change Conference
Seven years later it hosted the IMF and World Bank annual meetings a month after a deadly earthquake.
Q 20Which business on the main square was destroyed in the April 2011 bomb attack?
Argana Cafe
Fifteen people, mostly foreigners, were killed.
Abd al-Mu'min
He rebuilt it entirely around 1158; that second version is the one standing today.
Q 25Which famous gate, built by Ya'qub al-Mansur, was the main entrance to the Kasbah?
Bab Agnaou
Its floral carving is framed by a Quranic inscription in foliated Kufic script.
Q 26In which year were the Menara Gardens established?
1157
Abd al-Mu'min laid them out around a reservoir fed by khettara channels from the Atlas foothills.
Q 27Which historic green space, ringed by pisé walls, is the city's largest at 340 hectares?
Agdal
The Agdal Gardens date from the reign of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf; the Menara Gardens cover about 96 hectares.
Q 28What is a riad?
A mansion with a central garden courtyard
The design, based on the Roman villa, gives privacy and keeps interiors cool.
Q 29The Saadian Tombs stand beside the south wall of which place of worship?
Kasbah Mosque
Ahmad al-Mansur's chamber has a cedar roof on twelve columns of Carrara marble.
Q 30How many student dormitory cells cluster around the Ben Youssef Madrasa courtyard?
130
At its peak it housed as many as 900 students; it reopened as a historic site in 1982.