Morocco: Casablanca

It is also the largest port of the country lying on the Atlantic Ocean coast, one of the leading shopping cities of North Africa, an important industrial and banking center.

In VII–VIII centuries at this place there was a small Berber settlement of the Anfa, which then became a rich trading city. Later in the port of Anfa, they found refuge pirates, who committed from here raids on European shopping ships. In the middle of the 15th century, rampants of piracy off the coast of Morocco reached such a scale that Portuguese, more than others suffering from attacks on the sea, decided to end everything. In 1468, they sent a punitive expedition to Anfu; The city was taken by storming and burned down.

Built in this place, the new settlement was called Casa Blanca («the White house»). The next time the city was destroyed to the foundation in 1755 — This time the culprit became an earthquake. Subsequently, Casablanca for a long time stayed at the stage of decline, while the French did not reconstruct it, decorating wide boulevards, public parks and Mauritanian buildings.

The most famous landmark of Casablanca and Morocco is the Hassan II Mosque — The second largest in the world after Mecca Mosque. It was erected on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the view of which opens with a giant glass hall with a capacity of 25,000 people. Another 80,000 people can pray on the area adjacent to the mosque. The total territory takes 9 hectares, the height of the minaret of the mosque — 210 m, and this is the highest religious construction in the world.

Construction of the mosque was conducted during the reign of King Morocco Hassan II — From 1986 to 1989, the building did not open until August 30, 1993. The cost of the construction was $ 800 million collected by donations. 2500 builders, 10,000 artists and other workshops on design were attracted to work. All materials for construction were taken from Morocco regions, with the exception of white granite for columns and 50-ton glass chandeliers: they were brought from Italy. Design developed French architect Michelle Pinso — What is interesting, he was not even a Muslim.

78 columns made of rose granite erected inside the prayer hall, the floors are eliminated by plates from golden marble and green onyx, the roof is covered with bright emerald tiles. During construction, technological innovations were applied to adapt the building to various weather conditions. For example, the floors have heated, the roof can be moved, and the building itself is seismically resistant. At the top of the minaret there is a laser spotlight, which creates a light green line in the sky with a length of 30 km in the direction of the Mosque in Mecca.