Rabat in Morocco

2 3 Rabat SPAIN MEDITERRANEAN SEA Saïdia Rabat ATLANTIC OCEAN 5 Editorial Zagora 6 Rabat in history 8 Rabat, a majestic beauty ALGERIA CANARY ISLANDS 12 Rabat, a capital city with its face to the future 16 Rbati craftwork - excellence and sophistication 18 Rabat, cultural capital 20 Things to do in the city 22 Salé, the twin sister 24 The region 26 Information and useful addresses MAURITANIA 4 5 Editorial Rabat, city of elegance Rabat, capital of the Kingdom, is more than worth your attention – a city where tranquillity and discretion go hand in hand with sophistication and the art of good living. A resolutely modern town that has nonetheless preserved all its authenticity, its historical heart combines elegantly with its modernity. It stands proudly at the mouth of the River Bouregreg, its colourful yachting harbour a delight to the eye, its ochre-hued walls surrounded by brilliant green nettle trees with the cries of the seagulls as a background. A beautiful city justifiably proud of its heritage, Rabat lives and breathes among wide boulevards and luxuriant parks. It is the country’s political and administrative centre and its seat of government, containing the royal palace and the embassies to the Kingdom, and the many fine edifices that adorn it bear magnificent witness to a history reaching back into Antiquity. It is also the cultural capital, with a plethora of museums and exhibitions, and acting as host to major international festivals that draw a wide audience. On the other side, on the right bank of the river, its twin sister Salé has preserved the memory of the corsairs of bygone days, leading you off into the maze of its medina in discovery of its mysterious past. Rabat, a city with its face turned resolutely Whether you’re coming to the city as a tourist, on business or to live, you will seawards find Rabat and its region a perfect setting for discovery, shopping and relaxation. Rabat, in all its elegance, guarantees visitors a royal welcome. 6 7 Rabat in history Historical landmarks The earliest traces of humanity in Rabat In 1150, he helped with the fortifica- date back to the 8th century BC, on the tion of the kasbah, turning it into a present-day site of the Chellah. It was fortress that played a major role in the the Romans who gave the name to the conquest of Andalusia and in control- place, a deformation of the Latin word ling the rest of the Maghreb. This “Sala” meaning “castle”. They set up a edifice, the present Oudaya Kasbah, river port there, which disappeared with was named “Ribat al Fath” (Camp the fall of the Roman Empire. of Victory) in commemoration of the Almohad conquests. Berber tribes settled there, on lower ground on either side of the Bouregreg. In the In the late 12th century, the powerful 10th century, soldier-monks built a “ribat” Almohad sovereign Yacoub El Man- (fortified monastery) on top of a thirty- sour built the, Hassan Tower in the Minaret of the Chellah metre cliff on the right bank of the river, image of the Koutoubia in Marrakech Entrance to the royal palace mosque overlooking the an edifice that was later to give the city its and the Giralda in Seville, and forti- mouth of the river name and from which Abd al-Moumen, fied the kasbah, surrounding it with founder of the Almohad dynasty (Berber two towering walls entered through tribes from the High Atlas who had been five gateways. converted to Islam) led his holy war. Yacoub El Mansour died before he It was not until the coming of the finished his work, and the city lost Alaouite dynasty that the city regained something of its allure. The world’s its former glory. The Royal Palace, Dar- largest mosque, the Hassan Tower, al-Mahkzen, was built there in 1864 and was never to be completed. The end is still the place where all the Kingdom’s of the Almohad dynasty hastened the foreign guests are received as well as city’s decline. being the seat of government, where over two thousand people live and work. Although the Merinids chose Fez as their capital in the 13th century, In 1912, Sultan Moulay Youssef they did not lose their interest in Ra- left Fez in favour of Rabat, making bat, building the Chellah Necropolis it Morocco’s administrative capital. outside its walls. In the years that fol- Rabat has since become the country’s lowed, Rabat was gradually to become second largest urban area, the seat of a city of pirates. government and of parliament. View over the Oudaya Kasbah The pillar in Avenue de la Victoire, bea- ring the inscription “Sois le bienvenue au voyageur” (“Welcome, traveller”) 8 9 Rabat, a majestic beauty Rabat has taken care to expand and tored and now serve as an exhibition develop harmoniously. Architectural ri- gallery. It was here, in 1960, that gour is apparent everywhere – wide tree- the first collective exhibition by Mo- and flower-lined boulevards, building roccan painters was held, testimony rarely more than five storeys high, and to the burgeoning of artistic creation administrative and residential districts in the field of modern painting. 200 where tranquillity reigns supreme. The metres further on, the Ambassadors’ “city of flowers”, as Marshal Lyautey Gate (Bab Essoufara) gives access to liked to call it, is also an authentic Mo- the mechouar, a vast square where the roccan city, the very opposite of a capital major celebrations in honour of the without a soul. If you need convincing, King take place and where the royal just make your way through the little palace also stands streets of its medina and the major roads through the new town. The Chellah: Sala Colonia The Chellah is located about 2 km from The wall that surrounds the old town the city centre and is made up of the Rabat, a stork’s paradise is entered through 5 monumental necropolis itself and the ancient city of Mohammed V Mausoleum esplanade stone gateways (Bab el Alou, Bab el Sala. The ruins, with their omnipresent Had, Bab Essoufara, Bab er-Rouah birdlife, nesting storks and wild vegeta- and Bab Zaërs). The largest of these tion, must be one of Rabat’s most arres- Almohad creations is Bab er-Rouah, ting features. Protected by an imposing its monumental sculpted stone fa- surrounding wall and accessed through a filled garden containing an ablutions nineteen naves, not counting its late- cade standing between two projecting monumental gateway, the necropolis is room, a zaouia with an oratory, the zellij- ral porticos. It was on this site that the towers. Its inner rooms have been res- an oasis of tranquillity, a peaceful flower- adorned Merinid minaret, and a series of Mohammed V Mausoleum was built, in burial rooms. fitting tribute to the Nation’s liberator. The Hassan Tower The Mohammed V Mausoleum The remains of the Hassan Tower The design and decoration of the Mo- bear witness to the size of what was to hammed V Mausoleum take one’s have been one of the largest places of breath away. This masterpiece of tra- worship anywhere in the Muslim world. ditional Moroccan art, with its painted Its construction was abandoned upon woodwork, sculpted plasterwork and the death of its founder in 1199, and marble, and chiselled bronze, required the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 caused all the know-how of the Kingdom’s mas- further damage. The mosque comprised ter craftsmen. Mohammed V’s tomb is a great courtyard laid out over deep, res- carved from a block of white onyx and tored cisterns and reaching to the foot stands in the centre of the edifice’s lower of the minaret, and an immense hy- level. Today, his two sons, the late King postyle room whose 312 columns and Hassan II and Prince Moulay Abdallah, 42 marble pillars were arranged to form rest in peace alongside him. Changing of the Royal Guard The Hassan Tower 10 11 Rabat, a majestic beauty The Oudaya Kasbah The Oudaya Kasbah is a haven of The museum exhibits rich and varied tranquillity, with its flower-filled little collections of jewellery, testimony to streets, Andalusian garden and Moo- the extraordinary expertise of Mo- rish café. The Oudaya gateway is built rocco’s craftsmen. of dressed stone and is regarded as one of the jewels of Almohad art. Most of The medina the remains still to be seen date back It takes its name from the Muslims who to the 12th century, and the kasbah were chased out of Spain in 1609-1610. contains Rabat’s oldest mosque. Its Passing through the Andalusian wall, minaret, adorned with small deco- you find yourself in rue Souiqa, between rative arcades, is most probably the two rows of shops selling traditional work of one of the first Alaouite so- craftwork. Rue Souk-es-Sebat is an ex- vereigns. From the ocean side of the tension of rue Souiqa and is a district of old semaphore-station platform at the dealers in fine leather goods, fabric sel- end of the main street, you can enjoy lers and bazaars. Along with these two superb panoramic views over Salé and streets, rue des Consuls is the busiest in the Bouregreg Estuary. the medina. It is lined with craftsmen’s workshops and fabric and carpet-sellers’ In the kasbah’s main square, a wa- stalls, and on Thursday mornings, you rehouse built in the late 18th cen- can witness the Rbati carpet auction. Architecture from the tury now accommodates a cooperative Narrow little alleyways have the habit of Mohammed V Mausoleum fountain days of the Protectorate where you can watch girls at work wea- opening out on to squares specialising in ving carpets.

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