The Menara Gardens were first established by Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad ruler who conquered the city, in 1157.[1][8][3][9] This dating has been deduced by scholars from historical chronicles describing Abd al-Mu'min's construction of an enormous garden estate west of the city which contained two large water reservoirs.[5][6][4] One of these reservoirs is the current one seen at the gardens today (although it was probably slightly modified in later restorations[10]).