Jemaa el-Fnaa (), also Jemaa el-Fna, Djema el-Fna or Djemaa el-Fnaa, is a square and market place in the medina quarter (old city) of Marrakesh, Morocco. It remains the main square of Marrakesh, used by locals and tourists.
Name
The origin of its name is unclear: jamaa means "congregation" or "mosque" in Arabic, probably referring to a destroyed mosque on the site. Fnaʼ or fanâʼ can mean "death/extinction" or "a courtyard, space in front of a building". "finâʼ in Arabic commonly means "open area"; a straight translation would be "the gathering/congregation area". Other meanings could be "The assembly of death", or "The Mosque at the End of the World". Another explanation is that it refers to a mosque with a distinctive courtyard or square in front of it. A third translation is "assembly of the dead", referring to public executions on the plaza around 1050 CE.