Morocco again15 Rabat modern capital

1515

Located on the Atlantic coast in the north-west of Morocco, the site is the product of a fertile exchange between the Arabo-Muslim past and Western modernism. The inscribed city in UNESCO Heritage List encompasses the new town conceived and built under the French Protectorate from 1912 to the 1930s, including royal and administrative areas, residential and commercial developments and the Jardins d’Essais botanical and pleasure gardens. It also encompasses older parts of the city dating back to the 12thcentury.

Museum

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Central postal office (Telegraph,

Post-Office, Telephone)©Andrew Junev

Central postal office (Telegraph, Post-Office, Telephone)Internet

Bank Al-Maghrib ©Andrew Junev

The new town is one of the largest

and most ambitious modern

urban projects built in Africa in the 20th century and probably the most complete.

The Bank Al-Maghrib

The Bank Al-Maghrib is the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco. It was founded in 1959 as the successor to the "Banque d'Etat du Maroc"

Parliament ©Andrew Junev

Parliament © Janice Pierce

The al-Sunna Mosque, built in the eighteenth century by the king Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, occupies a strategic place in the modern city.View of Avenue Mohammed V towards Sunna Mosque

Avenue Mohammed V

Ficus benjamina, commonly known

as weeping fig

Ficus benjamina, commonly known as weeping fig

Rabat galerie Bab Rouah. The gate itself is a masterpiece of Islamic fortress architecture from the middle ages

The site was probably occupied by Phoenicians as early as the 11th century BC, and the Romans built their southernmost port, Sala Colonia, here in the 1st century AD. But it was not until the 10th century that a local Berber tribe founded the city of Salé on the right bank of the river mouth, and built a ribat (fortified camp) on a bluff at the western extremity of the estuary’s south bank

In UNESCO Heritage list the older parts of the town include Hassan Mosque (begun in 1184) and the Almohad ramparts and gates, the only surviving parts of the project for a great capital city of the Almohad caliphate as well as remains from the Moorish, or Andalusian, principality of the 17thcentury

Yaqub al-Mansur (known as Moulay Yacoub in Morocco), an Almohad Caliph, moved the capital of his empire to Rabat

He built Rabat's city walls,

the Kasbah of the Udayas and

began construction on

what would have been the world's largest mosque

In the 13th century, much of Rabat's economic power shifted to Fez

Cemetery al-Shuhada in Rabat (Old City).  Tens of thousands of beautifully engraved tombstones tumbling down to the Sea

Cemetery al-Shuhada in Rabat (Old City)

Today a pleasant residential quarter, The Oudayas Kasbah occupies the site of the original  ribat that gave the city its name

The Oudayas Kasbah and Bouregreg River

During the 12th century, Rabat became the imperial capital of the great Almohad conqueror Yacoub el Mansour, who ruled over an area that stretched from Tunisia to northern Spain. After his death Rabat lost much of its importance, while Fez, Meknes and Marrakech prospered

The 18th-century (but much-restored) As Sunna Mosque dominates the view up Avenue Mohammed V

The al-Sunna Mosque

Rabat did not recover its status

as capital until the establishment

of the French Protectorate in

1912, when Marshal Lyautey

made it the administrative

capital;

and it was only when Morocco regained its full independence in 1956 that the city became capital of the new kingdom

A visionary scheme that will change the cultural and social landscape of Morocco’s capital, Rabat is underway.Atkins designed the masterplan for this inner city site, as well as two of its most iconic buildings - the Library of National Archives of the Kingdom of Morocco, and the House of Arts and Culture - for Wessal Capital, an investment fund for tourism and real estate projects in the Kingdom of Morocco.

Construction has started on the Atkins-designed masterplan to transform a north African city

Majliss Hotel (6, Rue Zahla)

John Paul II in Morocco in 1986 (with Hassan II)

A reproduction of Édouard Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère in restaurant

Morning view from the Window

Morning view from the Window

Sound: Moroccan music 2016

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Foişoreanu Sanda Negruțiu InternetCopyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuhttps://plus.google.com/+SandaMichaela

Amaranthus tricolor (summer poinsettia)

Ornamental grass

Cork oak trees

Moroccan water seller

Lantana camara (Deer Resistant Plants)