Smara: City of Ma El Ainin

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Smara: City of Ma El Ainin

Paul Valery was wise when he said, a consonance sometimes creates a myth. Whether it be Syracuse, Carthage, Granada or Samarcand, it is only necessary to mention the names of certain cities to unfold the vast world of the imaginary. Far from distorting reality, it confers its true dimension.

And so it is with Smara, « city of mirage « , that Michel Vieuchange, the visionary explorer of the 30s, rediscovered with awe after weeks of an exhausting expedition. A few hours of contemplative exaltation, passionate notes, photographs and maps … And then, hardly a month after fulfilling his lifelong goal, this 26-year old died at Tiznit, worn out but fulfilled: (His travel diaries have recently been republished.) Without doubt, such a fierce fascination is not entirely explained by the subject of such devotion. Smara, however, can rightly lay daim to exciting such a longing. It has everything to justify it.

He imposed peace and order

When in 1898, Sheik Moulay Ahmed Ben Mohammed El Fadel, known as Ma El Ainin or « water of the eyes », began to build the citadel city of Smara in deep desert, he was already considerably renowned Philosopher, theologian, poet, jurist, doctor of medicine and all round renaissance intellect, he possessed a stupefying erudition. This son of a marabout (muslim marabout) gathered under his authority the Saharan tribes, imposing from Tindouf to Tarfaya the peace and order desired by the Sultan.

This man of religion was as well a man of war. Attracted by Sufism and nourishing his faith through meditation of the Koran, he often recalled that a Jihad begins first with efforts of self conquest. Ma El Ainin remained nevertheless a redoubtable warrior, and circumstances would allow him to prove it. During 1904, and mainly through the following year, strongly assisted by the support of Sultan Moulay Abd El Azziz, the sheik preached and led a merciless battle against the colonial expansionary of Spain and France. His troops invigorated by the mood of an urgent Just cause won man y great victories and held in check the advance of the foreign forces. El Hiba, one of his sons, the one who succeeded him, later rewaged the Holy War.

No matter the final result of the war, it is always the majesty and bravery of a leader that the people remember when honoring their own liberators. One is thus able to comprehend the continuing veneration for the enduring figure of Ma ElAinin shown in Morocco. Since simplicity best serves grandeur, it is in Tiznit in a stark white mausoleum that the sheik lays at rest with his son El Hiba, known as the Blue Sultan.

Smara, the city of sands, even today still bears witness to this glorious past One can not remain indifferent when on leaving Laayoune or Tan-Tan, you realize you still have to cross the desert to reach it. Nothing can so purify your vision in preparation to approaching the city than this daunting trek. The overwhelming space of the desert contains vanishing or false landmarks, intense light, as well as an imponderable silence that nether the screech of a bird of prey nor the howling wind can penetrate Straight roads cut through incredibly coloured land- scapes, receding horizons, a saturation of light over vast stretches … One is in another world. smara is a city of confines, and when one discovers it, apparently poised on the steep bank of the dry wadi which leads to Seguiet El Hamra, it is less of a surprise than one feels in the presence of an imposing reality. The ochre, white or grey walls of the houses, the minarets, the towers of the barracks, the man y cupolas where light and shadows shift and all the relatively new buildings of this advanced outpost appear composed in a drawing. One could not, however, rebuild the astonishing metropolis of Ma ElAinin.At least the ancient vestiges hint at the perennially of Life, and in a certain way, the triumph of the cause of which it is a symbol.

The new Smara responds to this need.since we are dealing with memory and uniqueness, one should only contemplate at leisure what is left of the ancient city: the proud ruins of the great Mosque and the even better preserved kasbah of Ma ElAinin which creates an impression of strength and rigor. Austere buildings whose dark blocks of stone surprise you in this environment where all the colours seem use gouache mixed with white. Only the shadows cut and give shape to the structures. The coarseness of this architecture matches perfectly the site; it further delineates the idea of a necessity because it so enhances the essential and discards the accessory Whether it is the way the walls are built, the alternation of quarry or flat stones, or the contrast between the irregular size of these elements and how neatly they are assembled, one perceives here a whole new conception of modernity in the decorative use of the material. The influence of Mauritania is beyond all question, not only in what has Just been described but also in the narrow openings and in the use of coarse mortar which probably appeared not to be necessary to the masons who were accostomed to constructing without it.

Smara : Sobriety worm like an emblem.

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Smara : Sobriety worm like an emblem

This severity, however, is occasionally embellished by rare ornaments whose sobriety is worn like an emblem. Situated in the centre of the Kasbah, the private residence of Ma El Ainin offers the most telling example of this perfect adaptation. The doorway with its divided arch reveals a framed rectangular structure whose upper part is decorated with vertical and parallel relief identical to the « ksours » (Atlas Mountain massive) of the Ziz Valley or the Rissani region. The ridge-tiles l the corners of t’ roof suggest a game of broken lines which is quite unusual and whose inspiration is unknown. They accentuate the severity of the construction by topping its four corners and by cutting its vital momentum. The Qouba which dominates the whole does not possess the classical shape of a hemisphere but has a flattened pyramidical shape with a polygonal base where a game of light softens the purposely rough drawing. Finally, contrasting with the dark colours of the stone walls, the white, ochre-nuanced decorative elements underline the austerity of the building.

The discovery of other parts of the Kasbah in ruins but strengthened by emergency restorations reinforces the impression of rigor; it surprises as well by its overall grandeur. Patios linked by interior alley-ways, women’s apartments, reception rooms, pan tries and kitchens, an open amphitheatre, Turkish baths, a library known to have been one of the richest of the time … One remembers then that from 1898 to 1902, in less than five years, Ma EI Ainin created in the midst of the desert the most flourishing and amazing oasis by exploiting underground water sources. There are thousands of palm and date trees and in the heart of the city; the Kasbah is protected by surrounding walls containing five doors. Around the sheik’s mansion are assembled 18 Arabic-Maghrebian style buildings.

A mosque which Ma El Ainin hoped would become the most imposing in the Sahara was erected in the northeast of the city. The dream was never fulfilled, and the mosque was never completed. All that remains are several naves whose massive pillars support arches in roughly hewn uncommented stones. Under the brutally stark light of the sun, the shadows project a dislocated perspective of the divided arches, and one does not feel here the serenity that usually infuses these sites of prayer and contemplation. From those vestiges of the devastated building emerges quite distinctly an impression of tragic grandeur.

Smara : The city of sands

Such a spiritual reaction is not surprising: the image of these ruins commonly gives rise to such a state of mind. One regrets, however, to be unable to envision what the city of sands had been like at the time of its splendor. One can imagine the constant to and fro of the countless caravans which came to those places of dunes and rocks bringing the noble and rare materials for its edification. As well one can conjure up the intense activity of a crowd of workers, craftsmen, well-diggers, architects and decorators who had come from Tangier, Fez and the South of Morocco…

In any case it is probably not without reason that two contemporary writers have chosen to evoke the initiation voyage of their heroes with the flamboyant epie of sheik Ma ElAinin in the background. And without doubt it is no more an accident that tbe title of each of those two novels is rich with resonances: « Desert »from France’s Le Clézio and « The Prayer of the absent » by the Moroccan Benjelloun. They each echo one another in their reference to the same prestigious name.Smara cannot be disassociated from its founder and constantly reminds us that there are some privileged sites which unite reality, legend and dream to become a place of living memories ».

Tetouan or the meeting paint of hispano-moresque art

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Tetouan or the meeting paint of hispano-moresque art

With its fountains murmuring in patios, its Andalusian gardens and its arcades, Tetouan is a charming town.
Crenulated ramparts, striking minarets, white town walls and verdant gardens, set against the distant ochre backcloth of the Rif Mountains; you do not need to look elsewhere for the centre of hispano-moresque architecture, born of two cultures.
From morning to night, it is humming with the activity of a capital city : a labyrinth of stalls, a motley crowd : it is a centre to which people from the valleys keep converging in order to sell and buy everything there and not even the slightest deal is made without hesitation, dilemma and discussion.

There is much chatter. In the evenings, people gather together by the hundred, men sitting around innumerable small square wooden tables which are set up even on the roadway; the women crowd together on benches decorated with. ‘zelliges » on the garden banks.
This is the time for the tourist, indiscreet by nature, to observe these women from the Rif so strangely dressed, done up in their striped fouta (towel), with a blanket around their hips; their feet and shins are bound with leggings of wool and leather to protect them against the stubble and thistles. Under their large hats, their faces stay fresh and pink. The slightest thing makes them smile mischievously.
The medina is ageless. It is the same maze of tiny streets,archways, tiny squares and foundouks » that exists in many other towns, but here there reigns a particular bustle and gaiety. It is a combination of many things: the bluish rough-cast walls, the gushing. fountains; the painted windows and doors, decorated with simple pure geometrical motifs, the smiling people, the laughing children and that picturesque wandering drinks’ seller who fills his barrow with flowers and green grass in order to keep his jars cool. There are various parts of this pleasant town where we are glad to linger: the tiny shady Ousaa square., the dyers’ quarters, the tirismiths and the stalls of skilfull leather craftsmen who make objects decorated with interwoven multi-coloured leather strips, a Tetouan speciality.

The Khalifa’s palace, former residence of the Sultan’s representative, during the Spanish occupation, is a fine example of princely architecture and of hispano-moresque ornamentation, a style both pompous and refined whose delicate detail and strict geometry cause one to forget an apparently exaggerated decor. A composition of Seville stone-work and Moroccan’zelliges » forms characteristic combinations. The main patio is shaded by a fine garden.

The Archaeological Museum is to be visited too, at the bottom of a pleasant garden where amphoras, steles and antique mosaics are assembled. The three Graces welcome the visitor from a large mosaic brought back from Lixus. Other mosaics and numerous objects originating from the Phenician and Roman city are exhibited in a special room. Another room is devoted to the excavation from Tamuda a Punic conglomeration, which stood on the site of Tetouan, of which remains of walls and many other debris can be recognised on the right bank of the Martil river, four kilometers upstream from the town.

Another museum that is worth an attentive visit is the Museum of Moroccan Art. Of all art collections that can be seen on this the me in the main towns qf Morocco, the collections in this museum are no doubt the most complete, the most intelligently presented and to be sure, the most enthusiastically and sensibly commented. All the prodigious folklore from the North of the country is evoked here without overloading. The visitor will not get bored as he will go from costumes to furniture, from a painted wooden door to an admirable collection of glazed dishes, painted in the shades of yellow, green and pastel blue that are no longer to be found. Specimens of the simplest utensils can be seen there, as well as very refined trinkets and jewelry.

Of course, music holds all important place here; Tetouan prides itself as being the guardian of the pure tradition of Andalusian music.
A conservatoire of music has achieved an important feat in restoring and teaching this art.
Let us not forget that this is a city of literacy and culture where scholars and intellectuals feel at home. Politeness and good manners are dominant elements in the life of the people of Tetouan.

The town itself is enhanced by a mass of greenery. This is less obvious when approaching it from the Tangier road, where we are struck by the size of this completely white town and its position in a hollow between stark mountain-faces. On the other hand, the scene is fresh and full of light for those who arrive in the morning from the east: cypress-trees, eucalyptus trees, orange-trees. almond trees enclose the dazzling white cubes which rise in tears from the foot of the cliffs and to the mighty Kasbah.

The sound and light of fez

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The sound and light of fez

Fez, visited by tourists from the world over, will now be even more famous than ever. A fantastic sound and light show will recount the glorious history of this imperial city which, from its founding, has glittered well beyond Morocco’s borders.

« I am in love with Fez. I’ve wandered ail the alleyways of its medina, drank at its marble fountains, visited its palaces and masques. l’ve gotten lost in its new city. l’ve returned to streets I had forgotten. And each time I’m there, l find the same happiness, the same serenity.

And thus ends one of the most elegant tributes ever paid to the city of Fez. But now there’s a new homage to this glorious metropolis, a sumptuous feast of colors, words, images, a fantastic voyage across time, 45 minutes of sound and light, a grandiose realization the fruit of imagination and cooperation of various individuals and groups, ail designed to enhance the preciousness of this spiritual capital.

The « Sounds and Lights of Fez » is a talented mix of the most sophisticated technology, quadrophony, sound surround, laser image projection, fabulous lighting of the city and laser effects in space and on the walls of Borj Sud. The show narrates in three-quarters of an hour the twelve centuries of one of the most prestigious cities in the world and in this explosion of colors and music, great Moroccan and foreign actors will deliver the text of Mohamed Tari and Jacques Cagne.

« Tell me first … Why the name of Fez? Some people believe that the name comes from the Berber word ‘Asif » which means river. But there are other legends. The one I prefer is that of the golden pick-ax which ‘Fas’ in Arabic is. The workers building the city gave Idriss 1 a golden pick-ax as an offering and he named the city thus.  »

Fez, the capital of the Idrissi sultans, was the center of Muslim civilization, a veritable crossroads of people, traditions and experiences. To Fez came the Andalusians from Cordoba, the Kairouanais, the Berbers and there they made a harmonious blend of their cultures and knowledge. From its creation, Fez was a city of exchanges, cultural and commercial, a haven of tolerance, a place of meditation and spirituality. In the heart of the Karaouyine Mosque, in one of the oldest Koranic theological schools in the world founded by Fatima Bent Mohamed El Fihri, studied theologians, wise men, doctors, philosophers and historians from around the world. The Almohad dynasty not only gave the city its monumental gates, but also increased its places of prayer, its tanneries, dyeing shops and public ovens. The caravans brought the most beautiful goods from ail over the world. Despite these glorious predecessors and their stunning achievements, it was under the Merinid sultans who chose Fez as their capital that the city reached its zenith.

Open to ail intellectual movements, the Merinids adorned the city, and founded so many Koranic schools that the city’s already stellar spiritual reputation soared even higher. Libraries filled with precious manuscripts abounded. Fez was also a city of refinements where stunning creations of wool, wood, silk; iron and even earth were produced. For all time, the city has brought together the best artisans of the country and even today Fassi artists continue their splendid work in such important monuments as the Great Hassan II Mosque.

« Independence … the magical Arabic word of ‘Istiqlal.’ » Even though Fez has faced difficult times over the course of its long history, it still remains the acknowledged center of learning for the country. Fez has also been a place of resistance, for within its walls the independence movement was thought out. In Fez, as in the other cities of the nation, the resistance movement against French colonialism was organized. In the universities, students began to gather round the great notables of this struggle and many of the leaders were from Fez such as Allal El Fassi. It was in Fez du ring the night of August 19, 1975, that King Hassan II had the brilliant idea of the « Green March, » a pacifist march for ail Moroccans, whose goal was to take back the Sahara provinces occupied by the Spanish. It was a glorious page in Moroccan history, an epoch without violence in which 350,000 volunteers from all over the realm, more than 15,000 from fez, joined in this peaceful fight. Fez with its shops, its scents, its Oriental and Andalusian music; Fez with its tangled streets hiding magnificent palaces; Fez with its universal heritage; ifs a city worth celebrating, the very name calling forth ail of humanity.

Jamaa El Fna Square in Marrakech Morocco

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Jamaa El Fna Square in Marrakech Morocco

The request made by Morocco in order that Jamâa’ El Fna Square in Marrakech be registered as belonging to the worldwide patrimony of mankind has been accepted, and with just cause. This « exotic » square situated in the heart of Marrakech has been recognized as part of the national patrimony since July 20, 1922, in so far as this physical patrimony bas an historic character. This recognition allowed for the preservation of its originality and that of its surroundings. It also prevented the deterioration of its vast, gracious space by some constructions that would besmirch the integrity of this « spontaneous human assemblage » that takes place there all year long. jamaa’ El Fna Square can be found a few meters from the Koutoubia Mosque. From there start the narrow lanes and alleys that lead to most of the streets of the medina. It is a labyrinth of caravansaries, small shops, market stalls, cafes and popular restaurants.

Jamaa’ El Fna occupies a privileged location in that you have to go through it to reach its surrounding neighborhoods, houses and « kissartats » or traditional shopping centers. It is also a not-to-be-missed popular meeting place. Passersby cannot but be drawn to its many attractions. Items on sale include traditional costumes, crafts, henna, medicinal plants, and a variety of spices. There are as well the different dishes and delicacies « marrakchis » that are prepared and cooked there (such as steamed calf head, tanija, etc.) along with various refreshing beverages made with oranges and lemons.

Visitors to Jamaa’ El Ina find themselves enveloped in its warmth and unable to resist pausing to listen to its singers, .to enjoy its acrobats, and to be enthralled by its « storytellers. »

jamaa’ El Fna offers connoisseurs of the fine art of fun the opportunity to give free reign to their art and to the art of communicating with others. Here you come upon a circle where amazigh music is played or another « halka »(circle) where Arab songs are sung (melhoun, aita, haouzi, etc.).

Then there is another gathering featuring the « Ouled Sidi Hmad Ou Moussa » acrobats from the souss region. Further on a storyteller preens, proud to show off his dramatic skills. Ali around there is the sounds of ratites, drums and the other instruments of the « gnaoua » troupes.

At the other end of jamaa El Fna, we enter into another world of moroccan popular patrimony, that of beliefs, of fortune telling and traditional medicine. You will find a clairvoyant there who utilizes the shoulder bone of mutton, another who uses A cards, and a herbalist garbed in Sahraoui dress who extensively praises the benefits of herbs gathered at le the far end of the Sahara. Then there is an old man crouching over a spread of talismans that will if you buy them, he promises, grant protective powers against the evil eye and wicked genies. Everyone here performs with great flair the oral art, the expressive gesture, the mime, in order to attract the greatest number of clients, and all do their utmost to draw crowds for a few coins or bills.

If UNESCO has today recognized Jamaa’ El Fna as belonging to the worldwide patrimony of mankind, this Square also has a place in the hearts of Moroccans where all its cultures are in intertwined. It is truly an open space where generosity, hospitality and tolerance are on display.
Jamaa’ El Fna thus represents both a universal patrimony and a national treasure.

Volubilis: A sanctuary of roman and Islamic vestiges

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Volubilis: A sanctuary of roman and Islamic vestiges

Perched on a hill with a panoramic view of stretching plains, Volubilis is the most important archaeological site in Morocco. This is not only for its exceptional historic interest but also because of the number of tourists that visit it each year.
A Moroccan-British academic team is working there to protect the site and to preserve its Islamic patrimony.
Perched on a hill with a panoramic view of stretching plains, Volubilis is the most important archaeological site in Morocco. This is not only for its exceptional historic interest but also because of the number of tourists that visit it each year.

A Moroccan-British academic team is working there to protect the site and to preserve its Islamic patrimony. Known by the Arabs as « Oualili » or « walila, » Volubilis must have been originally constructed as a Carthaginian city around the 3rd century BC. It was an administrative center in this part of Roman Africa with responsibility for producing and exporting grain to Rome. Volubilis was as well the main point of contact with the Berber tribes that the Romans bad never been able to conquer, but with whom they cooperated in mutual self-interest.

The city was such an important commercial center that its fortunes prospered, and its success is evident in the vestiges of its elegant and imposing architecture, thanks to its excellent waters supplied by streams flowing into the city, the Roman center occupied some 44 hectares according to the remains of its outer walls. The Roman administrative authorities only reluctantly departed the most symbolic area of the city, the forum, the open space used for public assemblies and for political discourse. Volubilis later experienced a second era of rebirth that is probably it’s most important.

It would become the second most important region in North Africa’s Muslim world (the first was Qairawane in Tunisia). Then, it offered its citizens the protection of the Islamic juridical system, new alliances and fulfilled new administrative and religious rotes. Proof of this was the different methods of fortification and construction used. In fact, up until the 1980s, the latter period of the imperial Roman city was totally ignored. Even nowadays little effort has been undertaken to safeguard and preserve the site itself or some of the precious objects that have been discovered there.
Currently, a Moroccan-British academic team is seriously committed to protecting the site and preserving its Islamic patrimony. It involves undertaking excavations in the Islamic city – and this is the research aspect of the project – and preserving the Roman site by managing the flood of visitors. The project has been financed in part by the University college of London, the British Museum, and from private funds. It should be completed over five years and should have a considerable impact on the entire site and on the conservation of the Roman ruins. It will as well give a new opening on the part of the city. The most urgent task, however, is to watch over the conservation of the remarkable mosaics that are both complex and amusing. They are also uniform in the sense that they have been created from a single material. They are composites, made up of many types of stones, of glass tesserae, and pieces of pottery placed in a kind of cement and mortar. The mosaics have been examined with the aim of classifying the extent of wear that they have undergone. According to Gaetano Palumbo, teaching professor in archaeological site management at the University of London, « The question is whether we must construct a shelter over the mosaics. We will undertake appropriate actions following the completion of the study.

 » Four of his students are preparing their theses on the risks incurred by Volubilis and the possibilities of improving the preservation of the site. The « research » aspect of the project will as well allow visitors to have an idea about the city in the Islamic period, about daily life in the 8th century when Moulay Driss arrived. In one way, it was he who really rebuilt Volubilis seeing that few inhabitants continued to live there after the departure of the Romans. In fact, he was not the first Muslim chief to enter the city, but he was the first to be accepted without combat as ruler and was the most recurred. According to Lisa Fentress, a professor at the University of London, prospecting is underway. The excavations will uncover several domestic dwellings, two of which will be extensively explored, « I think we will find houses there in the classic style from the beginning of the Islamic period. I would like to know how and when the changes took place following the arrival of Moulay Driss. Many questions have to be clarified, and 1 hope that this site will [furnish some essential elements or at least some answers, » she added.

She is well supported in her work by Youssef Bokbot, the Moroccan curator of the site, and by Abdelfettah tchkakh, his assistant. These last two are part of the new generation of archaeologists who seek to discover at the same time their own Islamic heritage. Bokbot, who lives near Volubilis, is particularly enthusiastic about the idea of building a welcome center. « If we could involve the people from here, I am sure they will become aware of the crucial importance of this site which would become the sanctuary of Roman and Islamic remains and should be visited. »