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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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