Dominating the skyline of the walled medina, La Tour Hassan is a monument to the ambition of the Almohad sultan Yacoub Al-Mansour. He planned a mosque that would have been the second-largest in the world at the time, but construction ceased on his death in 1199; the resulting mosque was then largely destroyed in an 18^th Century earthquake, leaving only the forest of pillars and the huge, iconic minaret: Le Tour Hassan. As well as a classic Rabat photo opportunity, the open space around the tower is one of the many pleasant open spaces which makes Rabat so pleasurable to visit.