The complex is regarded by many art historians as the high point of Moroccan architecture in the Saadian period due to its luxurious decoration and careful interior design.

He died while in exile in the High Atlas mountains and Marrakesh was thus the closest city for burial (which, under Islamic tradition, must be carried out quickly).

[8] Al-Ghalib was already a prolific builder throughout his reign and it seems he wished to erect a mausoleum to honor his father Muhammad al-Shaykh, the founder of the dynasty, who was killed in 1557 and buried here in what was probably a simple grave.

[8][5] Before Muhammad al-Shaykh some Saadians – most notably al-Qai'm, the dynasty's founder, and Ahmad al-Araj and his sons – had been buried in the Zawiya of al-Jazuli and its adjoining cemetery in the city.

[8] It is probable (but unconfirmed) that the fourth Saadian sultan, Abd al-Malik, was also buried next to Muhammad al-Shaykh (also his father), on the south side of the latter's tomb, in 1578 or after.

[8]: 410–411 The next building phase took place during the reign of Ahmad al-Mansur, another of Muhammad al-Shaykh's sons and the most powerful and wealthy of the Saadian sultans, between 1578 and 1603.

When al-Mansur's mother, Lalla Mas'uda, a wife of Muhammad al-Shaykh, died in 1591, he decided to have her buried within the same mausoleum chamber as that of his father.

[8] At some point, he probably also commissioned two more dedicatory marble inscription panels to be placed at the heads of the tombs of his father (Muhammad al-Shaykh ) and his mother (Lalla Mas'uda).

[8] Again for unknown reasons and at an uncertain date, Muhammad al-Shaykh's dedicatory panel was moved to the western building and placed on the back wall of the Chamber of the Twelve Columns, where it is still visible today.

[5] At some point during al-Mansur's expansion and embellishment of the eastern mausoleum, between 1591 and 1598 (or before 1603 at latest), he decided to abandon this work and embarked on the construction of an entirely new building to the west.

The first person to be buried in this building was probably one of al-Mansur's wives, Mahalla bint Omar al-Marin,[9] in 1598, in a spot close to the eventual tomb of her husband in the Chamber of the Twelve Columns.

[5]: 194–195  The ornate tombstones (of a type called mqabriya) over these five important royal family members (i.e. al-Mansur, Lalla Aisha as-Shabaniyya, Zidan, Abd al-Malik II, and al-Shaykh al-Saghir) are also the largest and finest in the mausoleum, carved in Carrara marble.

[8] One of these graves is reputedly that of the 'Alawi sultan Moulay al-Yazid (died 1792), which was previously marked off by a wooden balustrade and which was sometimes visited by local pilgrims.

The decorative techniques seen in the buildings of the preceding Marinid and Nasrid dynasties – who ruled in Morocco and al-Andalus (southern Spain), respectively – are repeated here.

This unusual and almost symmetrical layout is believed to be the result of at least two different construction phases: a square mausoleum originally erected over the tomb of Muhammad al-Shaykh by Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib and an expansion by Ahmad al-Mansur which added the other chambers around it (see history section above).

[5] It is believed to be the oldest structure in the necropolis, a relatively small mausoleum erected by Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib between 1557 and 1574 over the tomb of his father, Muhammad al-Shaykh, the founder of the dynasty.

[5]: 196  The chamber is covered by a vault of very fine and intricate muqarnas (honeycomb or stalactite-like sculpting) made of stucco which retains a part of its polychrome painting in blue and gold (among other colours).

[5] The chamber is covered by a berchla roof (a Moroccan wooden framework ceiling with particular stylistic geometric arrangements) with remnants of its former colours.

The mihrab here resembles that of the Ben Youssef Madrasa (also Saadian in origin): a horseshoe arch surrounded by elaborate stucco decoration and hiding a small muqarnas cupola inside.

The columns and the arches split the upper space of the chamber into 9 rectangular areas, with each division having its own wooden ceiling with star patterns.

The central mausoleum of al-Mansur (the Chamber of Twelve Columns) is entered via another ornate muqarnas archway directly opposite the mihrab.

[12] Its layout follows a previously established plan seen at the Mausoleum of Sidi Yusuf ibn Ali in Marrakech (built by Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib) and in the remains of the rawda cemetery at the Alhambra of Granada.

[5]: 225  A slightly smaller square is formed within the chamber by the twelve columns of Carrara marble symmetrically arranged in groups of three around the center of the room.

[5] What is more exceptional is that each group of three columns supports two small muqarnas arches which are also made out of marble (instead of the usual wood or stucco) and yet appear as intricately carved as the other elements in the room.

[5] The space between the column groups is spanned by wider muqarnas arches carved in stucco, but the consoles or corbels on which their bases rest are also made out of marble.

[5] Overall, the craftsmen who built the chamber took great care to make the transition from marble to stucco nearly imperceptible, so that the two highly different materials seem to blend naturally together.

[5] Below the cupola itself is a transitional zone of wood-carved muqarnas, and below this are two bands of painted decoration with arabesque motifs and Arabic calligraphic inscriptions.

[5] All of their tombstones, of a type called a mqabriya, consist of an elongated marble bloc carved with Arabic epitaphs on arabesque backgrounds.

[3]: 422  In addition to the use and continued elaboration of decorative techniques from the Marinid era of Morocco, the Saadian Tombs also suggest an influence from Nasrid antecedents in Granada, Spain.

[5]: 194–196 [1][4][3] Shortly after they were "rediscovered" and made accessible to the public by French colonial authorities in 1917, they were praised by many contemporary art historians and observers who visited them.