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Sculpture of a traditional water carrier

Al Maghrib, the Arabic name for Morocco, means "far west" or "where the sun sets." When the Arabs first arrived in northern Africa in the 7th century, Morocco was believed to be the westernmost point in the world. The ancient imperial city of Meknes is in Northern Morocco and is one of its most historic, traditional and colourful cities, steeped in folklore, culture and history. Originally known as “Meknassa al-Zitoun” (“Meknes of the olives”), Meknes was founded in the 10th Century by members of the Berber “Meknassa” tribe, but became famous when it was chosen by the Emperor Moulay Ismail to be his Imperial capital in 1672. He made it his life’s mission to transform Meknes into the “Versailles of Morocco”. He is compared to his contemporary, Louis XIV of France, due to his reputation as a warrior king and his love of grandeur in general

Cemetery

City gate in Meknes - Bab Berdaine built by Moulay Ismaïl in the 17th century

Koubba el Khayatine is where Ismail used to receive foreign ambassadors. A stairway beneath the pavilion leads to vaults which are said to have served as a prison for the European slaves who laboured on the construction of the imperial city. It is claimed that the underground chambers ran for over 7km (4 miles) and that up to 40,000 slaves were incarcerated here each night in total darkness (the tiny windows were made by the French).

Both as a governor and a Sultan Moulay Ismail was a man of excesses. A ruthless tyrant, he had a harem of 500 wives and concubines and fathered hundreds of children. He was also a great admirer of France’s Louis XIV, and set about building an imperial city to rival the Palace of Versailles. Christian slaves and local tribesmen laboured for years to realise Ismail’s grandiose plan, which comprised a complex of 24 royal palaces with mosques, barracks and ornamental gardens, surrounded by four sets of massive defensive walls.

Sultan Moulay Ismaïl received here the ambassadors from other countries, often to plead for the return of their countrymen. Little did they know - their countrymen laid shackled just below them. Just to the right of the pavilion are the stairs down to the prison where up to 60,000 prisoners were held.

Kara Underground prison where slaves were kept during the 17th century. Majority of them were captured Christians.Built as a prison by the Portuguese architect Cara, himself a prisoner, who earned his freedom by constructing these immense subterranean slave quarters. 60,000 slaves (of which 40,000 were reportedly Christian prisoners of war) were shackled to the wall, forced to sleep standing up, and ordered to work on the sultan's laborious building projects

Prisons’ ventilation

On the surface you

can see the

ventilation shafts for

the prison below

Gate of Royal Palace, one of most striking of Meknes' many gates (27 gates)

Bab Mansour

 Another great construction of Moulay Ismail in Meknes is Hri Souani.It is a complex of three different buildings just to the south of the royal palace. The main structure is the actual granaries which were built to store massive quantities food and water in case Meknes had been under siege

This amazing site has been used as a scene for many

films, the most famous of which is probably The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988

by Martin Scorsese

There are a series of 10

massive rooms with arched

ceilings that can reach dimensions of over 25 meters long by 10 meters

wide

The walls were so thick that the

food was naturally

preserved from the highly variable

temperatures of the Meknes

region

Another part of the building

contains the wells that give the name of "the

house of water" (Dar El Ma).

These wells were powered by

animals to extract water which was

stored in the "bassin d'Agdal"

(Sarij Swani)

This series of buildings provided ample stocks for the emperor to feel safe in Meknes. The Royal Granaries were designed to store grain as feed for the

10,000 horses in the royal stables

Agdal reservoir, built by Moulay Ismail measures 319 x 149 meters, with a depth of 2 m

The Granaries have recently been restored and are now once again entirely open to the public

Jacaranda tree with seed pods

Agdal reservoir

Fed by a complex system of irrigation channels 25km long, it served as both a reservoir for the sultan’s gardens and a pleasure lake

Vandalism

The giant Giacometti-like statue of a traditional water seller lost the hat, the water and the cup…. and now seems a beggar

The remains of Moulay Ismail’s stables are attached to the granary. The Royal Stables in Meknes was constructed to comfortably house no less that twelve thousand of the royal horses. Ismail had a great respect and admiration for these gracious animals, even more than he did for his human counterparts.

His horses were waited on hand and foot, with a groom and a slave for each horse, to ensure that all their needs were met, stables kept in immaculate condition and his horses being taken care of

It is even said that after a horse had completed a

journey to Mecca, slaves were

forced to catch the urine in a

bowl, as even the earth was too

undeserving for the horse to

urinate on. It is easy to say that

Moulay Ismail was fanatical

about his horses

Today, most of the stables are in ruin and due to an earthquake during the eighteenth century, the roof of the stables no longer provides protection. Even though it is not in the pristine condition that Ismail would have approved of, visitors will still be amazed at its sheer size and the effort that was put into the construction

There is a canal that ran fresh water through the stables constantly, so the horses never lacked clean water

To feed twelve thousand horses is already a great feat, but the granaries stored enough grain to feed the horses for twenty years! To store such large amounts of grain, the granaries needed to be kept cold, and for this, the granaries were constructed with thick walls and a suspended forest was grown on the roof. Water from the reservoir below, was forced through ducts in the floor, to maintain a low temperature and keep the grain from rotting

Meknes is twinned with Nîmes, France, since 2005

Sound: Hamid Zahir 2016

Text: InternetPictures: Sanda Negruțiu Sanda Foişoreanu Internet slide2,3, 38Copyright: All the images belong to their authors

Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanuhttps://plus.google.com/+SandaMichaela