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 ».