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Published: April 7th 2007
As much as I wish we could say we found Humphrey and Ingrid in Casablanca, I think we're some decades and a reality away. We did, however, find the third largest mosque in the world. This was actually our only reason for stopping in Casablanca since we had heard the city itself was a dirtier and less charming Rabat. From our walks between the train stations and the mosque, with the exception of a few nicer streets, we found this statement to be pretty accurate.
The Hassan II Mosque is quite stunning; King Hassan II, who was inspired by the verse from the Quran that states God's throne was built upon the water, developed the idea for this mosque right on the ocean and made the project his crowning achievement. The guided tour (the only way to see the interior) showed us the prayer hall, the baths, and the Hammam. The prayer hall was the most striking because of its sheer size and intricate decorations - it was even complete with a roof that opens so you can see the sky, and columns that effectively hide the speakers. Our tour was a little frustrating because they had one guide
for the English and French speaking groups and it took twice as long to say everything in two languages. But it was interesting to finally see a mosque from the inside since so many of them are closed to the non-Muslim population.
The disturbing aspect of the mosque was the cost of construction - the project cost more than half a billion dollars. This was certainly evident from the size and decorations; however, when seeing the mosque in juxtaposition to the poorer areas of town, you have to wonder if the money was well spent. To think how many places in the world evoke such a question . . .
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Kate
non-member comment
About the construction cost.
Sudie-- Just to put the .5 billion in perspective, take for example all of the great cathedrals throughout Europe, put them in today's financial/construction market and think how much they would have cost. What's worse is that when those were built, they manipulated the poor by forcing them to build them and thousands of peasants and their families were killed in the process. I know it doesn't necessarily seem like a good investment, especially with all of the poor around it, but most large construction projects are really expensive. Love you, hope all is well.