Morocco did eventually claim a title for largest mosque, at least in Africa – it is in Casablanca, not Rabat, some 80 km south-west down the coast, and a fast train makes for an easy day trip. The Hassan II Mosque was a prestige project for the country in the 80’s and 90’s (with almost immediate renovation work required then in the 2000’s). Now, the minaret is not only the tallest in the world but highest religious structure of any: 60 stories, 210 m (690′), and the top fitted with a laser beam.
Casablanca & Chellah
Outside of prayer time, the mosque is very obviously geared as a tourist attraction, with a ticket kiosk, guided tours, women permitted in all quarters, and all unwashed bodies and shoed feet accepted.
The building’s scale is quite hard to describe and certainly quite grand. Internally the prayer hall can accommodate 25,000 worshipers, with many more outside.
The roof is retractable, while the main space is a centrally heated immense hall of granite and marble dwarfed by towering columns and topped with cedar carvings.
While the majesty is undeniable, a certain coldness and impersonable character nagged us western visitors – everywhere is intricate detail and geometric pattern, like a synthetic fractal, but in the Islamic interests of aniconism and avoidance of idolatry, nowhere is found any pictorial art, nowhere in the architecture is there any obvious or accessible tether to the human experience.
Away from the prayer hall there are male and female ablution areas and a large swimming pool sized hammam (bath house). Raised pedestals feature a central collection pool from which water flows out small channels in the curved marble rim, each spaced so a dozen or so may wash at a time – in theory. In practice this is all for show only. The bath areas in actual use are found in the mosque’s lower level and are quite squalid, cramped, and unpleasant.
All Morocco seems to feature these contrasts, extravagant displays on top of hidden realities. The Hassan II Mosque boasts titanium doors, forming three large gates under imposing arches. On inspecting them closely out of curiosity, Peter found wooden framing and plywood, covered with a paper-thin impressed titanium skin formed to give the appearance of a solid casting.
Back near the boat, and back in time: the old Roman ruins at Chellah were a highlight. ‘Salé’ traces its etymology back to Punic Shalat – earliest dating of ruins suggests 8th century BC – which the Romans took over in the aftermath of the Phoenicians’ downfall and turned into Sala Colonia, a far flung frontier town established in the first half of the first century. Much later, the same Arab Caliphate responsible for the incomplete Hassan Tower constructed a necropolis on top of the Roman site, within a defensive wall that stands today…
…along with a tiled minaret and other stone buildings.
From the massive main Arabian gate, a path leads down the hill to a viewing platform overlooking le site antique.
Scant parts of the Roman town remain here and there – crumbling brick and tile, foundations of a bathhouse, a few pillars and arches, a nymphaeum water tower that once distributed water from an aqueduct. A forum, grass growing between weathered paving stones, lies near the capitol temple where the original room and space layout is clearly distinguishable, complete with interior altar. Marble statues depicting the ruler of the day or a local dignitary of importance have been collected and still ask admiration on the road between the forum and bathhouse.
To the east is the basin aux anguilles, a pool that attracts women who believe that feeding boiled eggs to its resident eels brings fertility and easy childbirth.
A large group of primary age school children from a French International School clustered under the shade of trees near the walls, eating their own lunches.
In our own time, we ended up staying in Morocco for five months, a great contrast from the high latitudes that have been our habitat for most recent years.
The Rabat-Salé area has much to offer the visitor, whether amusing tourist distractions or the more rewarding returns made on acquainting oneself with an unfamiliar foreign culture and those that preceded it in history. And, with reset EU allowances Kiwi Roa could return to Europe and further plans in the north. With that said, we do not claim this visit to do justice to the region, and perhaps will return in the future.
