Ben Youssef Madrasa ticket
1 hour inside- Skip the line
from€12per person
Ben Youssef Madrasa
Médersa Ben YoussefBen Youssef Madrasa, Marrakech: opening hours, ticket prices and tips for the Saadian Quranic school with carved cedar, stucco and student cells.
Ben Youssef was a boarding school for students of the Quran and law, attached to the mosque next door. A madrasa stood here under the Marinids in the 14th century; the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib rebuilt it in the 1560s.
It is one of the largest madrasas in North Africa. The rooms around the upper floors were student cells, small and plain, with windows onto inner light wells.
The prayer hall and the central courtyard with its long pool carry the decoration: zellige at the base, carved stucco above, cedar at the top.
After years of restoration it reopened in 2022. The courtyard is small for the number of visitors, so it is busy from late morning.
Good to know
- Steep, narrow stairs lead to the student cells upstairs.
- The courtyard pool makes the classic photo; it is easiest early.
- It stands next to a working mosque: dress modestly.
Sources: medersabenyoussef.ma, medersabenyoussef.ma, medersabenyoussef.ma