Archives du mot-clef Morocco

Chefchaouen city in the north of Morocco

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Chefchaouen city in the north of Morocco

In the north of Morocco, nestled in the old Rif, where it is ever greener with every turn in the road, more abrupt like the Pyrenees as the mountains suddenly stretch to the sky, and then in a complete surprise, there is the great mark of Chefchaouen. More often called Chaouen by its inhabitants, it is a reserved and chaste city that hides its charms.A little off the beaten track, it is as if you bad to earn the right to discover it; its two main squares are almost twins. El Mahzen Square and the adjoining Outa el Hamman are both shaded and tined with small cafes that never seem to empty.
But the essential is elsewhere; it is beyond the trees that extend their ancient branches, beyond the crenellated walls of Dar El Maghzen which reveal the foundations of its Andalucian gardens. It is by plunging into the maze of its tiny cobble-stoned streets that you catch it. The way is steep. The first stairs invite you to take the first step. The alley turns and you come upon a staircase.
Atop these few meters, there is a door; rounded, and often studded. Another little street lures you on, now leading to a new arch, then a second slightly higher and then a third. Three houses are grouped together there.
The street turns again and descends, raises, forks, and suddenly broadens in order to make space for a mosque whose minaret allows you to guess its presence a few steps before it actually comes into view. It is one of 20 mosques in this quiet pious little city; this one is quite simple and unadorned, but the others suggest Seville with their characteristic octagonal plans.
The street continues wending its way, finally leading to an opening; an expanse of mountain and sky, allowing the eye to come to rest on the goal: Djebel Ech Chaoun, the mount of horns, never very far away as soon you reach the city’s heights. Now you must go down the entrails- like twisting way that stops sud¬denly in a cul-de-sac, and it’s necessary to retrace your steps. Then there is a long stairway and beyond the leaden colored road.

The asphalt rears up suddenly. You have had until now the impression of having been set afloat in an almost maritime uni¬verse. It is resolutely blue because the houses all have been carefully repainted every year by their owners and always in shades of blue. You advance from one street to another into a world of blueness, washed-out blue, pastel, lavender, periwinkle, finally approaching sea green as the bricks of the roofs become more pink; yes, it is the tender pink of chalky soil, like that in Greece or in Provence. And the light in all this licks the walls like a flowing fluid. Giving various effects and surprising the stroller, the light is almost white at noon, indigo or cobalt when the light is low and turning to ash gray in the shade. In this aquatic world you could think of Matisse or Monet if there is no one in the street, and you could imagine you are moving along, swimming there. But where are we?
To explain the originality of this small town, there are many interpretations. It ranges from the distant memory of the walls of the moraria in Seville to the very prosaic fight against mosqui¬toes because this colour supposedly chases them away. Do we really need an explanation of the clan of the inhabitants? Seville is distant, and by the way, if we needed a connection, this neighbourhood would rather be related to the Alfa Ma Lisboete than to the Andalucian city.
More even than the Mediterranean, it is the East that is present in the mountainous medina. The sudden glimpse of a shadow which passes you and sneaks away to disappear behind a door is the proof of it. If the square is a public space or forum, the street is only a pathway to the intimate universe. You read the city like a puzzle.
And this puzzle speaks to us of the Orient; you can see its many facets through its walls and breeches. Rounded doors in the softness of the arch, the arcade is a compelling constant covering what nests there. Beyond the chica¬nery, the arcade installs itself like a caesura, a halt that is at the same time a separation and a welcome. Doors are always the same, but are dissimilar in their details. Locked doors, but the image of the lock is the same as the door; it is the square surmounted the circle, suggesting the rectitude of the here and now which the curve overhangs.
This figure is the same image of the East. You find it everywhere, inscribed even in the same form of the Marabouts or holy places, in the cut figures of jewels or woven in the wool of rugs, it is the ancestral image unconsciously conveying us along since the dawn of time.

Imperial cities in Morocco

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Imperial cities in Morocco

There are four of them. Four cities where Morocco’s great reigning dynasties decided to take up residence.Fez the most ancient of the imperial cities, Meknes the prestigious one, Rabat the magnificent and Marrakesh the finest and most renowned.

Cross-roads of the Arabic-islamic civilisation, these cities were chosen for their privileged geographical position and also coincidentally. This is often the way great cities are born.

FEZ
So what if Moulay Idriss had never been driven out of the East, if he had not arrived in Maghreb El Aqsa and had never settled in the Zerhoun region at VolubIlis? So what if he had not had a son who decided to round his capital on the Saïs plain, on both banks of the Oued Fez …if … yes, even if none of this had ‘happened, Fez would have been founded : such a welcoming site, fertile lands, water, a lot of water : what more can anyone wish for ? Idriss II made the right judgement when he decided capital in the year 190 of the Hegira. The town was divided into two parts, the city build on the right bank was called “Adwa des Andatous” and the city build on the left bank, “Adwa des Kalrouanais” Idriss Il scarcely had time to appreciate his work,to expand and to embellish ït when ha died an untimely death at 35year of age.

His Successors however finished of his work :the Almoravides led by Ben Tachfine. It was thanks to him that Fez became not only the religious capital but also the intellectual and artistic capital. lt never lost this rank as although and Marrakesh attracted monarchs, the latter continued to respect the cradle of Moroccan Arabic-Islamic civilisation : Fez
on: Fez the well-beloved. this town in the same way as all Moroccan towns has a double character, although the anachronism is not too obvious. In the old Town of Fez, history is related by each sign, each paving¬stone, each building that has lived through the ages: El Quaraouyine or the Kasbah Filala etc …

In the Old Town of Fez you go right back several centuries, not only because of the architecture, but also thanks to the presence of generations of craftsmen, fathers and sons. whose soundest heritage is their craft, their Art.
Thanks to this wealth of craftsmen. it is Fez rather than Marrakesh that can be considered the capital of the Moroccan handicrafts industry. Inestimable treasures can be found in the Old Fez : jewellery, sculpted wood. engraved leather etc … a feast for the eyes. The Old Town of Fez and its treasures dominate the other Fez, the modern town, with self¬complacency devoid of arrogance.

As for the New Town, it contemplates the Old Town with the sane respect that pupils used to have for their masters. Neither the brightly-lit streets, the luxury hotels, the srnart shops or the residential areas full of villas, each one different from the ether (and each one more beautiful than the ether]. nothing, absolutely nothing of all this and nothing else besides can make the New Town and its inhabitants forget that there exists only one Fez: the Ancient one.

Sixty kilometres from Fez the Sublime, lies another imperial city, Meknes the discreet…

Meknes, Imperial city in Morocco

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Meknes, Imperial city in Morocco

Meknes is set in a pre-eminently favourable geographic position: at the cross-roads of the majestic Middle Atlas mountain chain. Since its foundation in the Xth century by Zenete tribes from Meknassa which had come from the East to settle on the banks of Oued Boufekrane, Meknes has never ceased to attract and captivate all those who com to visit. However, it did not reach the peak of its glory until fairly late in 1672. when Moulay Ismaël mad it his capital. Indeed Moulay Ismail » was the first monarch who considerable achievement reverberated as far as the East and to Europe. especially to the French. Court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. much so that Moulay Ismaël is automatically associated with Meknes.It was thanks to Alaouite kings in general and Moulay Ismaël in particular, that Meknes developed in such brilliant way. You only need to visit Meknes to see that this town h remained a tapestry of all that noble, scenic and colourful in t country : the varied beauty of many sites, its rare relies and imposing monuments. There is lack of examples : the circle of ramparts. the famous Bab Mansour gateway. The royal palace, the Berima and Sidi Othmane mosques. the vast ancient stables or even Bab Berdeaine. the fine XVll th century gate. the Jemâa El Rouah Mede after a visit to the mosque of Sidi Saïd, before reaching Bab El Khemis. One of the most admirable testimonies is without a doubt the Heri. This is a famous and huge XVll th century granary : from its terrace a fabulous garden dominates the town, with a view over the Aqdal ornamental lake, a vast stretch of water four hundred metres long and a hundred metres wide.
Other points of interest to remember are the Lalla Aouda Square, the El Hédime Square, the Jamaï palace which has been turned into a museum of Moroccan arts; and of course the inevitable medina, the old town, the Old Meknes, where lies the most ancient mosque in Meknès which, like the town itself,dates back to the Xth century. The carpet-auction souk, « Souk Ed Dlala », the Bouinania Medersa, a XIVth century theological institution, the Jemâa El Kebir Mosque which has more than twelve entrances and tinatly, another Medersa, not far from the xissarta. the Filala, built in 1689 by Moulay Ismaël …

It is in the Kissaria or Souk,just as in all Moroccan towns, that you find the craftsmen : the caftan ¬makers. the workers of mosaïc, the « Kharrazines » (makers of Moroccan slippers and ether leather-goods).

There is also a lot to be seen on the outskirts of Meknes : legendary sites, splendid landscapes, fascinating places such as Moulay Idriss Zerhoun and the nearby ruins of the Roman town of Volubilis ; Azrou surrounded by majestic forests of cedars and green oaks : Ifrane, Morocco’S answer to Chamonix, with its red-tiled nouses. its green meadows, healthy invigorating climate, its resort at Mount Michlifen ; the district towards Midelt, Ifran even Immouzzer. On the road to Rabat, there are also two fine lakes Rabat is the next imperial city after Meknes : a city with deep roots and charm both arresting and discreet. Meknes has known its hour, indeed its centuries of glory and remains one of the principal towns in the Kingdom.

Luminous Tangier

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Luminous Tangier

« The first contact with Morocco for many, Tangier, situated in a natu¬ral amphitheatre, looks toward Europe. Should one see in the future tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar a wink to Hercules, who according to the legend was at the origin of Africa’s and Europe’s separation? In Tangier, myths and legends are tur¬ned upside down.
The city owes its name to Tinga, wife of Antee, son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of Gaia, goddess of the Earth … Then on to the 20′ » century where writers such as Paul Morand, Paul Bowles, Joseph Kessel, Tahar Benjelloun evoked the city or were inspired by it, contributing to the intertwining legend.
Here, nature creates art. Matisse, whose famous window – « View from the Window » – of the Hotel Villa de France still opens upon the bay of Tangier. That exports the myth all the way to Moscow, where the noted canvas is housed. Dream of the Orient for some, pictorial wit¬ness of diplomatic missions (Delacroix, Van Rysselbergh), discoverer of a « fauve » nature for others (Van Dongen), Tangier captures the eye and stimulates writers. Is it its cos¬mopolitanism which charms so many?

The city of diplomats

It was not its sandy beaches, so apprecia¬ted these days, but its exceptional harbor which first attracted the Phoenicians and then the Romans. They made of that city the capital of the Tangier’s Mauritania. The Arab dynasties which succeeded them used the port to launch their conquest of Andalusian Spain. Tangier later knew two centuries of foreign domination as well, Portuguese and Spanish, before being offered as the dowry by Catherine of Braganza to her husband Charles II of England in 1611.
From the end of the 17′ » century, Sultan Moulay Ismail reconquered Tangier and ordered a palace and mosque built. The city’s cosmopolitanism became a reality when the Sultan sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah encouraged the foreign consulates situated in other Moroccan cities to relocate there. His argument cut to the quick. He just offered very beautiful buildings to the European consuls. Tangier thus became a diplomatic capital, counting ten consulates by 183 o. From amongst the countries traditionally represented, we can take note of the United States of America whose inde¬pendence Morocco recognized in 1777. The sultan offered a residence to the American legation which ii would occupy untill961, the date when it left the original building for a more modern one. The old legation is today a museum.

The cosmopolitan city

From 1912 to 1960, Tangier benefited from its status as « an international city ». Fiscal advantages drew businessmen and adventurers of all types. then came the city’s ability to inspire writers who gathered at the cafés of the Little Socco or the Place de France …
Tall buildings whose 1900s style is being soften by Islamic art brighten the Royal Armed Forces
Avenue. Mosques, syna¬gogues, churches – places of worship of all faiths ¬heighten the international atmosphere of that city. The English Saint Andrews Church, identifiable in one of Matisse’s canvas,is a not to-be-missed destina¬tion. It contains an « our Father » prayer written in Arabic calligraphy.
Among other sights, the Gran Teatro Cervantes, built in 1913, was a gift by a Spaniard to his wife. Adorned by volute ceramics in a very turn of the-century fashion _ with an innovative Art Deco style façade … Caruso may not sing mere again, but the theater is in the process of being renovated. The old consulates were des cri¬bed by « Times » correspondent Walter Harris as dream residences. From The Rolling Stones to Elisabeth Taylor, the « guest list » of visitors to this city is impressive. An apt case in point is « The Sheltering Sky », Bernardo Bertollucci’s film adaptation of paul Bowles’s novel.
From the petit Socco, evoked by the writer Mohamed Choukri, in « Le Pain nu » (naked bread), to the colored medina of Tags, without forgetting the Rif’s peasant women wearing the fouta, a white robe with read stripes, the street is a show in itself. Luminous Tangier still exerts its power of seduction. Tangier, between Africa and Europe, Tangier between earth and sea, bet¬ween the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, between green and blue …