Orgueillir in Rabat could count more than 50 mosques in the early
twentieth century, most work sovereign Alawites ( current dynasty ) .The most prestigious of them , however, was never a place of worship : the Hassan Tower, in fact, the minaret never finished what was to be not only the largest mosque in the world, but also the largest religious building in the world
The Hassan mosque or was therefore improperly called Hassan Tower . A
lot of this gigantic work is unknown to begin with which his name is
not known origin: place name, name of a tribe or name of the supervisor ?
Some
historians of the eighteenth century , including Spanish , the
architect would be called Gever , death Sevillian to 1197 year that
would identically designed the Giralda in Seville, Marrakech Koutoubia
minaret and the mosque Hassan Rabat . This hypothesis has never been confirmed.The only historical certainty , it is the date of commencement of
work , in 1196 , and the name of the originator, Yacoub El Mansour ( Almohad dynasty ) . He wanted to make Rabat the capital of his empire , but he died three years later in 1199 .
His successors did not felt the need or the time to complete the work . Slowly deteriorated and building materials were thoroughly looted. The earthquake of 1755 completely destroyed the colonnades.
The minaret (tower ) is 44 meters above the ground , but if we stick to the criteria of Almohad architecture (5 heights for 1 width ), it would have amounted to more than 80 meters and thus exceed the Koutoubia Marrakesh .
Before the turn was the oratory , the remains of marble columns can be seen. It consisted of 18 spans, 312 columns and 44 pillars. The walls of the mosque were pierced with 14 gates.
Each of the four sides of the tower , in the directly sculpted stone has a different decoration. The ramp allows the ascent of the tower is large enough for a man on horseback Gravisse .
Today , historians are looking into whether the origin of its construction are the architects of the Koutoubia and the Giralda in Seville , as the three buildings are similar.
Long ignored , but now rehabilitated , Hassan Tower became the figurehead of Rabat and pride of its inhabitants.
The choice of building the Mohammed V mausoleum at his feet, is highly symbolic of the interest Moroccans to this monument .
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