Maryam bint Muhammad al-Fihriya

Maryam al-Fihriya was the sister of Fatima al-Fihriya (who founded the University of al-Qarawiyyin). Inheriting an immense commercial fortune from their merchant father Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Fihri, Maryam devoted her entire wealth to public education, worship, and urban architecture in the newly founded imperial city of Fez.

In 859 AD, simultaneously with her sister's project on the opposite riverbank, Maryam funded and supervised the construction of the grand Al-Andalus Mosque (Jami' al-Andalusiyyin) to serve the Andalusian refugee families settling in the city. Her patronage created one of the twin architectural crown jewels of medieval Fez.