Islamic World

The Bahia Palace in Marrakesh is an opulent palace constructed 1894-1900 for Ahmed Ibn Moussa, son of the grand vizier. The complex includes a private mosque and beautiful gardens.

The citadel of Damascus, smaller than the one in Aleppo, dates mainly from the Ayyubid and Mameluke periods, when Sultan al Adil used it to defend Damascus against the Crusaders and Mongols in the 13th century.

The "New Mosque" is not so new - it was built in the 1600s. Designed by Da'ud Aga, a pupil of Sinan, Yeni Camii has become a defining feature of Istanbul's skyline.

Commissioned by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and constructed by the great Ottoman architect Sinan, this beautiful mosque patterned after the Hagia Sophia was finished in 1557.

The cascading domes and six slender minarets of the Blue Mosque dominate the skyline of Istanbul. The 17th-century mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet I to rival the Hagia Sophia.

The holiest mosque in the world, the Haram Mosque has been much expanded from its original 7th-century form. Today it can accommodate up to 820,000 worshippers in air-conditioned comfort.

Every Tunisian city has a Great Mosque, but the one in Kairouan is the most important. It is the oldest mosque in North Africa and commonly regarded as the fourth holiest site in Islam.

The largest mosque in Marrakesh, Koutoubia is famed for its monumental 12th-century minaret, which became the model for later Moroccan architecture.