​The bimaristan hospital of Marrakech, built during the era of Almohad Caliph Yacub al-Mansour (d.  AD), is the oldest in Morocco. The same Caliph was responsible for the establishment of a bimaristan in Chellah, Rabat, which played similar therapeutic and educational roles due to its strategic location for Muslim conquest of Iberia. The institution of the bimaristan subsequently spread to several other Moroccan cities, thanks to the efforts of the early Marinid Sultans. Yet these institutions later declined in number and importance, and were neglected due to wars, famines and epidemics, despite the efforts of the Saadian and Alaouite states. Most disappeared and the remainder changed, both in structure and function, from the start of the protectorate onwards, as they came to be used as “maristans”; mental hospitals.