Children's Burial Area
You reach the Children's Burial Area by passing through the Chamber of the Twelve Columns and stepping through one of two openings cut into the northern wall. The space is smaller and quieter than what came before it, the ceiling less theatrical — but look at the walls. The stucco here is among the most intricate in the entire complex: arabesque patterns, geometric lattice, bands of calligraphy, all carved with a precision that makes the silence feel earned.
The tombstones are Carrara marble, smooth against the ornate surround. This is where the Saadian sultans buried their children and certain dignitaries — those considered, in the dynasty's hierarchy, of secondary rank.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who slow down here tend to notice the contrast: the deliberate simplicity of the chamber's structure set against the almost obsessive detail of its carved plaster. Run your eye along the epigraphic bands near the ceiling. The Arabic script is continuous and precise — worth a photograph taken straight on, without flash.
How Children's Burial Area came to be
The Saadian dynasty ruled Morocco from 1554 to 1659, and the burial complex grew in stages. The first funeral rooms followed the death of Prince Mohamed Cheikh in 1557; his son later raised a tomb for him and was himself buried here in 1574. When Ahmad al-Mansur took power in 1578 — the fifth and most celebrated sultan of the line — he expanded the grounds significantly, commissioning two mausoleums for his father, his mother, his descendants, and himself.
The entire complex was walled up after the dynasty's fall and remained sealed until rediscovery in 1917, which is why the decoration survived intact. Restoration work ran from 2013 to 2015.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the most comfortable seasons for a visit, with daytime temperatures between 20°C and low 30s°C. Summer brings intense heat — regularly 35–40°C — so if you come between June and August, the shaded interior of the tombs offers real relief.
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.