the Mongols destroyed Aleppo and Damascus, massacring 50,000 inhabitants. With the Arabian heartland in turmoil,
there were only two places in the Islamic world where architecture could develop,
in northern India (which would eventually come under the sway of the Mongolian
1imurid) and in the Spanish-Moroccan area far removed from Central Asia. It was extraordinarily prosperous, despite the
fact that by the 11th century the unity of Spain and Morocco, as established by the Almohads, had dissolved. The Merinids ruled in Africa and the Nasrid Sultanate in
Spain. Fez, the capital of the Merinid Empire, became a city of 200,000 people and had some 785 mosques, including the Great Mosque of Fez (1275), modeled on Granada and the Attarin Madrasa (1323-25) with
its finely caNed capitals and delicate wall treatments. It was in Spain, however, here the spectacular palace of Alhambra (Red City) was laid out (1238) by Mohammed