60% of Morocco's companies are based in Casablanca, included all those in the
high-tech sector. The city consumes 30% of the natio electricity and is the
headquarters of practically all the major banks. Casablanca is where everything
happens.
It has always been an avant-garde city, ifs strength lying in an ability to
take advantage of advances made in technology and modernism, enriching them
with the best of Moroccan tradition to cr< ifs own individual style. At the
beginning of the century Casablanca: already adopted a plan of urban development
to channel ifs extraordi; growth. The centre is the hub of a series of spacious
avenues spread.1 out in a,star formation, each lihed with elegant buildings
that are an admirable blend of Art Deco and Neo-Moorish styles, featuring cup
belvederes, columns, cedarwood balconies and turrets.
Since Casablanda hflS no natural harbour, the fantastic 3180 r long Moulay Youssef
jetty was constructed to create Morocco's pre port and the fourth in Africa.
The Mohamed V International Airport, the country's largest, reflects the style
of the city. Recently completed, the ultra modern arrivaI area is a monument
to traditional architecture.
How can one possibly describe the Hassan II Mosque? From the air, it dominates
the city. Built on the edge of the ocean, it rises like some kind of divine
ship. But if its divinity cornes from heaven, its greatnes and its beauty are
the work of men who gave it ail the love, art and technology witin their power
The prayer hall can accommodate 25 000 of the faithful, and the esplanade 80
000 more. The traditional Moroccan architecture here reaches its zenith with
the use of ultra-sophisticated technology. 3 300 craftsmen from ail over the
Kingdom worked together to build this monument on pile foundations covering
2 hectares, erect the world's tallest minaret (200 metres), install the retractable
roof which, in three minutes, can transform the prayer hall into a magnificent
patio, sculpt 10 000 square metres of decorations, 67 000 square metres of plaster,
53 000 square metres of wood...
The Great Hassan II Mosque is quite simply dazzling.
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