The Hassan II Mosque is located in Casablanca ( Morocco ) . Built
partly on the sea, it is a religious and cultural complex , built on
nine acres and includes a prayer room , a room ablutions , baths, a
Koranic school ( madrasa ) , a library and a museum. The mosque can accommodate 105,000 worshipers and prayer room 25,000 faithful.The
Hassan II Mosque is the third largest in the world , the largest in the
Maghreb , and has a minaret with a height of 201 m , the highest in the
world. Craftsmen recruited from all the cities of the kingdom had carved
53,000 m2 of wood and assembled more than 10,000 m2 zellij ( ceramics)
for the place of worship.
A large sunroof allows according to the wishes of King Hassan II to
connect the building to the air, considered one of the three elements
beneficial to life , with the land and water.Designed
by architect Michel Pinseau , it was built by the French group Bouygues
, project management being provided by the Ministry of the Interior ; at the time headed by Driss Basri .
historical
It was built during the reign and directives of King Hassan II. Planned on the site of the former municipal swimming pool ,
construction began on 12 July 1986 and its inauguration took place on 30
August 1993, after seven years of work.
Because
the mosque is located in the seaside , foundations required 26,000 m3
of concrete and 59,000 m3 of rock to fight against the effects of waves.
However,
the stability of protective structures at sea proved insufficient and
important work to strengthen containment has been underway since October
2006. Subjected
to strong climatic constraints (swell , moisture , spray ) , the mosque
Hassan II , despite constant maintenance , accused signs of premature
aging in 1998 (cracks, falling formwork panels ) , found the Associated Press.For the construction of the building containing the prayer hall ,
minaret and madrasa , twelve tower cranes 220 t / m and eight mobile
cranes were installed.
For the realization of the minaret , a crane with a record height of 210 m was established. The structures of all of the mosque are dressed in reinforced concrete decorations from Moroccan craftsmanship . The realization of the whole work has mobilized about 10,000 workers and craftsmen performing over 80 million hours of work.No less than 26 000 cubic meters of high performance concrete and
60,000 cubic meters of rock were used to fight against the effects of
waves, this huge mosque overlooking the Atlantic Ocean .
The
prayer hall is topped with a mobile roof 3400 m2 and 1,100 t , which
can move in five minutes through a rotation system drive . When the roof is closed, the prayer hall is illuminated by 50 chandeliers and sconces 8 Venetian Murano. The most impressive measure six meters in diameter, ten feet high and weigh 1,200 kilograms.The
roof covering required the installation of 300,000 tiles specially made
cast aluminum teams Bouygues group led by Aldo Carbonaro ( Project
Manager) and Abdellatif Haboubi ( site manager ) , mimicking the clay
roof tile glazed traditional Fez , but four times lighter . These tiles have made a weight gain of 65% compared to traditional tiles with much higher reliability performance .
For
finishing and religious objects , artisans throughout the kingdom
helped cover over 53 000 m2 of carved and assembled more than 10,000 m2
zellij representing 80 original patterns . Carved and painted plaster was completely worked on site by 1500 maâlems over 67,000 m2. Domes cedar were fixed on frames made with 971 tons of stainless steel and suspended from the reinforced concrete structure . Coverings marble and granite Moroccan origin represent 50 hectares in size with an average thickness of 14 cm.The mosque is decorated with 124 fountains and marble vanities .Speakers and lights were designed with the assistance of Philips .It is equipped with a laser beam indicating the direction of Mecca with a range of 30 km .The prayer hall
Hassan II mosque
Its
area is two hectares, it consists of two levels: the ground floor
divided into three naves symmetrical for men, it has a capacity of
20,000 people and mezzanines for women with an area of 3500 m2 and a capacity of 2,500 people each.This room is equipped with an electric heating system ground. (Patent Deleage Pierre - France )The exterior can accommodate 95,000 people bringing the total capacity to 120 000 people.There are 50 chandeliers and sconces 8 different sizes, between 3-6
meters in diameter, 5 to 10 meters in height and weighing between 600
and 1,200 kilograms.All external doors are covered with titanium and brass , they are 18 in number .
It
has an opening roof 1,100 tonnes and 3,400 m2 in area, it is a
three-dimensional metallic structure covered with cedar wood carved and
painted , it opens in 5 minutes with a bearing system propelled wheels. In the middle of the prayer hall , an artificial watercourse was
achieved through a closed water circuit with three openings in the floor
overlooking the ablution room located in the basement .On either side of the nave are two granite columns on which is inlaid in gold writing pedigree of King Hassan II.In the eastern part of the prayer hall is the mihrab . Made of white Carrara marble , zellige and plaster, it is used by the Imam to lead the five prayers of the day. In this section we find the minbar , a high chair used as prêchoir every Friday ; it is mahogany inlaid with ivory.
The ablution room
This is the room where the faithful are purified prior to their
prayers , the rite of washing the hands, mouth , nose, face, forearms ,
head , ears and feet.It has an area of 4800 m2, it has 41 fountains including 3 large and
38 small , representing lotus flowers, and a hundred taps on the
peripheryChandeliers therein are copper , they were made in Fez . This is a decorated zellige and tadelakt room.
Moroccan hammam
It
consists of 3 rooms , a warm room , a warm room and a hot room , the
temperature can reach in this last room to 47 ° C , it is also the room
where the water used to wash . We also find in this bath tadelakt and zelliges . At the hammam is also a heated pool with a depth of 1.5 meter pool, under a huge arch tadelak
parking
The parking under the esplanade of the Mosque has a capacity of 1,000 seats. It is accessible by two independent access from the roundabout surface
madrasa
The east side of the Hassan II Mosque Quranic school or madrasah is . This hemispheric colonnaded building includes classrooms, meeting rooms and a royal apartment around a courtyard
The library and museum
On either side of the plaza are two symmetrical and identical buildings, it is the library and museum. Unlike the mosque, these two buildings were built by the Moroccan company VTS
funding
This section is empty, insufficiently detailed or incomplete. Your help is welcome
The mosque was financed by the State, a national subscription and various foreign funding support 80 million French francs. The cost of construction at the end of the work was 3 , 8 billion Dirhams .This exceptional book, often criticized during its production , helped
revive the Moroccan craft in all its forms, but was also the source of "
high performance concrete " for the raising of the minaret of 175-201
meters
Managed until 2009 by the Urban Agency of Casablanca, it currently depends on the Foundation Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca
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Although Morocco is a country of Africa, in many ways it is a
country apart. It is more related to the Mediterranean than to the rest
of Africa. It is mainly because of the fact that it nestles on the
northwestern of Africa and is separated from the rest of the continent
by Atlas Mountains and the Sahara itself. Being situated with both
Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, mountainous interior, it stayed
independent for centuries. However, the country have developed a rich
culture blended from Arab, Berber, European and African influences.
Morocco is an ethnically diverse country with a rich culture and
civilization.
