page_title: Architecture of Casablanca
section_title: Traditional Moroccan
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Casablanca / Traditional Moroccan
caption_attribution_description: العربية: "شارع دمره القصف" قصف الدار البيضاء المغربية عام 1907 من قبل القوات الفرنسية
context_page_description: The architecture of Casablanca is diverse and historically significant. Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital, has a rich urban history and is home to many notable buildings in a variety of styles. Throughout the 20th century, architecture and urban development in Casablanca evolved in a way that was simultaneously specific to the city's contexts, and consonant with international ideas.
  Anfa, as the settlement in what is now Casablanca was known, was built by the Romans according to the Descrittione dell’Africa of Leo Africanus. The city is located at the mouth of Wādi Būskūra on the Atlantic Ocean in the Chaouia plain, known as Tamasna under the Barghawata. It was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755 and rebuilt by Sultan Muhammad III of Morocco, who employed European architects, and it was renamed Ad-dār al-Bayḍā. The sqala, the medina walls, and the two oldest mosques date back to this period.
  The 1906 Algeciras Conference gave the French holding company la Compagnie Marocaine permission to build a modern port in Casablanca.
context_section_description: Casablanca retains many authentic examples of traditional Moroccan architecture, particularly within the city walls of the historic Medina of Ad-Dār Al-Bayḍāʾ. There are a number of aḍriħa (mausolea) including those of Sidi Allal al-Qairawani and Sidi Belyout. Casablanca was one of a number of cities—including Essaouira, Marrakesh, and Rabat—that were revitalized after the earthquake of 1755, by Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah—who Abdallah Laroui called "the architect of modern Morocco." The sultan was known to have used European architects, such as Théodore Cornut and Ahmed el Inglizi, in his projects. The Sqala bastion and the two oldest mosques in the city, the Mosque of the Makhzen and the Walad al-Hamraa Mosque, were built during Sultan Muhammad Ben Abdallah's renovations to the city.
  The city's population grew under the protégé system as Europeans settled in the city, and with the migration of Jews from the interior of the country. In 1886, Élisée Reclus described Casablanca as a "European coastal settlement" and "desolate and extremely unhealthy."
  
  In his 1900 map of the city, Dr. Frédéric Weisgerber identified three main parts: the medina, the mellah, and tnaker. Casablanca hosted a kissaria, fonduqs, and a fresh produce market along the Wadi Bouskoura stream, at what is now the United Nations Square.
  The medina was largely destroyed in the French bombardment of 1907, though several important buildings remain.
caption: Casablanca in the aftermath of the bombardment of 1907.
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