THE HASSAN II MOSQUE
does
not convey to us only the movement, the interpretation and the strong and
striking voice of a worship dedicated to The Almighty; it at the same time
breathes into us the incarnation of its message today, of the ardent desire
to have its call heard by the entire Mankind in the full extent of its authenticity,
of its magnificence, of its gratitude and of its passion to understand others,
-in its humanism and its tolerance. The Hassan II Mosque is part
of the tradition of religious monuments, in the phases of their history,
in the quest of the architectural art it consecrates by bringing it to the
heights of fame, by renewing it, by adapting it to the means that enable
it to get free from the impact and stamp of the cities of another age. The
first monumental mosques date back to the Omeyyade era. Abd al-MaIik
ordered the construction between 688 and 692 of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat
as-Sakhra), which is, along with Masjid al-Aqsâ, one
of the most famous Islamic monuments.
It opens the
way to great architectural achievements Of an Islam, deeply urban
but continental. The reconstruction of The Grand Mosque of Madinah
between 705 and 710, and the founding, between 706 and 715 of the Grand
Mosque of Damascus are attributed to his son al-Walid. The Grand
Mosque of Damascus, whose transverse naves are separated by lines of two-level
arches parallel to the qibla wall and crossed in their middle by
a central nave, is the prototype of the mosques of the Muslim west. This
layout characterizes the pattern called `medinian`. It will gain widespread
acceptance and will even bring its impact to the Qarawiyyîne Mosque
of Fez. In the Muslim west, the Grand Mosque of Kairouan is considered
as the ancestor of all the mosques in the Maghreb. The Kairouan mosque,
founded by 'Oqba ben Nâfi', demolished and then reconstructed at
the end of the VIIth century, was enlarged in the second half of the VIIIth
century by Caliph Hicham, then refurbished by Ziyâdat Allah
before going through a last extension during the IXth century.
The layout of the
naves directed in depth, perpendicular to the qibla wall, a layout
called 'basilical' and already adopted by the al-Aqsâ Mosque, will
be reproduced and perpetuated in the mosques of IFriqiya, Spain
and Other parts of the Maghreb. The second monumental mosque of the Muslim
West is the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, the dean of the mosques of Spain.
Edified by 'Abd al-Rahmân I in 785-786, it was enlarged successively
by Abd al-Rahmân II in 833, by al-Hakam in 961 and finally
by al-Mansour in 987. This building that its founder, who was keen
on reproducing in Andalusia the splendor of the Omeyyad Caliphate, wanted
to construct on the pattern Of the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is, more
than the Kairouan mosque, the prototype of all the Arab-Andalusian
monumental mosques, mainly those of Saragossa and Toledo. Besides, it
provide a catalogue of the ornamental designs that the art of the following
centuries will reproduce in Morocco. It was in the IXth century, and more
precisely in 859, that the two Moroccan monumental mosques were constructed:
The qarawiyyîne Mosque and the Andalous Mosque. The Qarawiyyîne Mosque,
wich has since the start outshone its sister mosque, witnessed several
extensions in 956 and 1135 under the reign of the Almoravids. Its
transverse naves layouts breaks with the layout of other Almoravid shrines
in the Maghreb: The Grand Mosque of Tlemcen(1136) and the Grand Mosque
of Algiers (1096) for example.
The construction
of the two Fassi shrines mentioned above marks the birth of a specifically
Moroccan art which developed, from the different Andalusian and eastern
influences, local characteristics that became its own proper. The vestiges
of this era testify to the excellent skill of Moroccan craftsmen and artists
who, getting inspired from the East as well as from Andalusia, managed
to derive from the local traditions what was necessary to create an original
Moroccan style. Henceforth, this capacity to integrate external contributions
to enrich the local creation will ceaselessly characterize Moroccan art
in general and architecture in particular. Even under the reign of the
Almoravids, who were charmed by Andalusian
culture,
and even more under the Merinid dynasty this tradition of faithfulness
to the ancient heritage will never be failing. If the Almohad Sovereigns,
especially 'Abd el-Moumen and his son Yacoub al-Mansour,
were the greatest builders of religious shrines in the Muslim west, their
works were nonetheless stamped by a kind of serenity and austerity matching
their ideas system.
 Thus,
the mosques of Tinmel and Marrakesh, like the Hassan Mosque in Rabat,
The Grand Mosque of Taza and the Giralda of Sevilla, which was built by
Abou Yacoub in 1171, are clear evidence to the greatness and force of
this architecture expressed by specific forms. They testify to a steady
sense of volumes and a great mastery of the line. This sobriety characterizes
the large decorum that befits the austerity characterizing the Almohad
Dynasty. These buildings and their ornamental characteristics will
be a source of inspiration to the works achieved later on. After the Almohad
Dynasty Morocco witnessed several monumental works: in this vein,
lets mention the Merinid madrassas and mosques in Fez, Salé and Oujda,
or the Saâdian mausoleums of Marrakesh and finally the magnificent Alaouite
mosques and palaces in Fez, Marrakesh and Meknès. All these works consecrate
a style become classical. With the reign of His Majesty King Hassan
II, we witness a profusion of audacious projects that enable to recover,
not to say to go beyond the ambitions of the greatest builders of the
stature of the Omeyyads: al-Walid in the East or Abd
al-Rahmân I in Andalusia and of the Ottoman Ahmed I, founder
of the blue Mosque, or the Almohad Yacoub al-Mansour. The Hassan
II Mosque today testifies more than ever to this capacity to assimilate
external influences and at the same time reflects a new proclivity in
harmony with the technological know how that is called to make more effective,
more present a past that was so far passively copied because, more respected
than mastered, it was with nostalgia considered. While remaining faithful
to the traditional inspiration, The Hassan II Mosque uses all the
sophisticated technological gains and thus reflects the personality of
His Majesty The King who is tightly attached to the spirit of
contemporary civilization as well as to the teaching of Islam.
The Hassan II Mosque thus operates a genuine return to the sources.
The quotation of Al-Idrîssî
about
the Grand Mosque of Damascus seems, oddly enough, still valid in this
last decade of the twentieth century: "There is a mosque and there
is not a similar one in the world. There is no other mosque with so beautiful
proportions, nor is there one which is so solidly constructed, nor is
there one which is so surely arched, nor is there one which is so marvelously
drawn, nor is there one which is so admirably decorated with mosaics of
gold and varied designs, with enamelled tiles and polished marbles".
One must not forget however that Hassanian architecture begins
mainly with the edification of the Mohammed V Mausoleum and of
a set of great projects that enabled the refurbishing of royal palaces
in Fez, in Marrakesh, in Rabat,
in Casablanca as well
as the construction of new royal palaces in Agadir and Nador. Thus, the
Almoravid-inspired foiled arches, the wood, turned, assembled,
painted and engraved, cherished by the Merinids: the floral ornamentations
and inscriptions on chiselled plaster are harmoniously interlaced with
new designs and original chromes in our tradition. The Hassan II Mosque
undeniably marks the continuity of a Modernized ancestral art and bears
the sign of innovations that are due not only to technical reasons but
also to a fertile exploration of new aesthetic possibilities.
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