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Facing northward. At the entrance to the Kasbah of the Udayas.
For the list of my primary sources for this series, see the bottom of the Part 1 essay.
How well I remember standing next to this, the Bab Oudaya, the Bab El-Kabir, the Bab Lakbir, or the Great Gate of the Kasbah of the Udayas—other versions and transliterations also exist. That was the moment I first beheld the true magnificence of Islamic architecture. And, in this specific case, the Moroccan-Amohad version thereof. For me, it was an epiphany that did much to modify my understanding of the beautiful.
In 1976 this great work of art was in need of some serious restoration, as is apparent here. Yet the rough and pitted surfaces gave the structure a timeless and primal quality. It almost made me think that this work of grace and patiently elaborated grandeur had risen from the Earth's crust all on its own.
However, if you look at the Great Gate on Google Earth Street View today, you’ll see that it’s in much better shape. Instead of a ramshackle scaffold behind a boarded-up entryway, there are iron-embossed timber doors filling the horseshoe arch. And the stonework has received some much-needed attention.
The primary building material employed throughout the Bab Oudaya is the Salé Calcarenite. Quarried just across the mouth of the Bou Regreg, it is of Pliocene-to-Quaternary age.
Calcarenites are a strange sort of limestone composed of fossil fragments set in a calcite matrix. Under the hand lens this mixture is highly suggestive of a certain health-bestowing cereal much in favor with upscale Neoliberals breakfasting in their custom-designed solaria. Architectural historians, many of them Neoliberal too, mistake calcarenite for sandstone with depressing regularity.
Wherever this offbeat carbonate rock is found, from Morocco to Sicily to southern Indiana, it’s an instant and enduring hit with quarriers and builders. Much of its popularity is attributable to the stone’s great workability: it can be sawn, shaped, shipped, and sculpted with great facility. But its grainy, porous nature also ensures that it’s easily undermined by water and dissolved salts. And carbonaceous particles in soot serve as a catalyst that converts the calcite binder into the softer and more soluble gypsum.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this set, visit my my Architectural Geology of Rabat album.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
November - December 2014.
Holiday in Morocco.
The Bahia Palace was created by Si Moussa, grand vizier of the sultan, for his personal use.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The 16th century Madrasa is named after the adjacent mosque, and was once the largest colleges in North Africa. It closed in 1960.
A museum in the beautiful full interior of a former 19th century palace. we went to see the building rather than the contempoary art.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
November - December 2014.
Holiday in Morocco.
The Bahia Palace was created by Si Moussa, grand vizier of the sultan, for his personal use.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
November - December 2014.
Holiday in Morocco.
The Bahia Palace was created by Si Moussa, grand vizier of the sultan, for his personal use.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
Detail, 'Encoulement' by Mehdi Qotbi, on display at the Bahia Palace.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
Bahia Palace and Gardens was built in the 19th century and was the home for Bou Ahmed his four wives and concubines.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
The mausoleum overlooks the ruins of the Hassan Mosque, built by Almohad Sultan Yacoub el Mansour (Almohad dynasty) at the end of the 12th century. The Sultan died before the ambitious project was completed, and the main structure fell victim to the elements. Now all that remains are the parallel ranks of stumpy columns fringed by the crumbling brick walls. However the huge but unfinished minaret, the Hassan Tower (Tour Hassan), built by Yacoub el Mansour in 1196, has survived unscathed, and remains a monument to Almohad architecture.
The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
Chamber of Lalla Mas'uda. The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
Mausoleum of Ahmad al-Mansur (Chamber of the Twelve Columns). The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
Also known as the Qubba Ba'adiyyin, it is the only significant surviving Almoravid building in Marrakesh, the 12th century structure was a mida'a (place of pre-prayer ablutions) for the adjacent Ben Youssef Mosque.
The Bahia Palace was built by two generations of Grand Viziers from the same family in the 19th century.
The building came into the possession of the Moroccan sultan on the death of the son, Ahmed bin Mūsa (Ba Ahmed) and then became the official residence of the French resident minister, before reverting to royal ownership in 1956.
The family remains influential to this day, with a descendent recently serving as Minister of the Interior and then Ambassador to France.
The small 16th century necropolis of the Saadian sultans is located behind the Kasbah Mosque, accessed through a narrow covered walkway. With entrance routes increasingly closed off by the later Alaouite dynasty's Moulay Ismail, the necropolis fell out of use and was 're-discovered' using early aerial photography during the
French Mandate.