Page 12 - Casablanca

On Tuesday afternoon, the students had a field trip to Casablanca. Our main destination was the Hassan II Mosque, the second largest functioning mosque in Africa and the 7th largest in the world. Its minaret is seven stories high, the world’s second tallest. The mosque was designed by French architect Michel Pinseau, who lived in Morocco, and built by Moroccan artisans from all over Morocco. The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, with a part of it on the water. It can hold a maximum of 105,000 worshippers, 25 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s grounds outside. The walls and everything inside and outside the mosque was hand-crafted, and all the building material came from Morocco, except for the glass chandeliers and marble columns that came from Italy. It was the wish of King Hassan II to have the mosque built. He said: “I wish Casablanca to be endowed with a large, fine building of which it can be proud until the end of time… I want to build the mosque on the water, because God's throne is on the water. Therefore, the faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can contemplate God's sky and ocean.” The mosque was completed over a 7-year period and opened in August of 1993. During the most intense period of construction, 1400 men worked during the day and another 1100 during the night. 10,000 artists and craftsmen participated in building and beautifying the mosque. It was dedicated to the Sovereign of Morocco.

After the guided tour of the mosque, students got to go to Morocco Mall in Casablanca, the largest shopping mall in Africa. The mall features a massive 260,000 gallon aquarium, called “Aquadream” that contains over 40 different species of fish. The students got to spend about an hour and a half going around the mall, eating and shopping.