The Hassan II Mosque can be taken as the largest mosque in the country, Casablanca, Morocco and the 7th largest mosque in the world. Its minaret is however the world's tallest at 210 m. This Mosque, which is a religious building is a design the French architect Michel Pinseau and a creation by Bouygues. The Mosque stands in a way like looking out to the Atlantic. The Mosque is so huge so that it can accommodate almost 105,000 worshippers for prayers and around 25,000 inside the mosque and another 80,000 on the mosque's ground outside.
Almost half of the surface of the mosque lies above sea water of the Atlantic. This was inspired by the verse of the Qur'an that states "the throne of Allah was built on water." Part of the floor is glass and offers a view down at the sea. Another feature here is the spotlight that shines in the direction of Mecca at night from the top of the minaret. Building has many modern features such as heated floors, electric doors, and a sliding roof. The mosque depicts strong Moorish influence and the architecture of the building has contrasting similarities to that of the Alhambra and the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain.
On 12 July 1986, it was commenced to start building and was it was planned to be completed as a birthday gift to be presented for the 60th birthday of the former Moroccan king, Hassan II, in 1989. However, the building was not open until 30 August 1993. During the height of completion of the construction, it was calculated approximately around 1400 men worked during the day and another 1100 during the night. And also around 10,000 artists and craftsmen participated in molding and decorating the mosque. Specific materials like granite, plaster, marble, wood etc were used in construction and they were taken from around Morocco. But there is an exception which would be the Italian white granite columns and glass chandeliers. It was said that six thousand traditional Moroccan artisans worked for five years to create the abundant and beautiful mosaics, stone and marble floors and columns, sculpted plaster moldings, and carved and painted wood ceilings.
Travellers’ Guide
We are happy to inform that this would be one of the few mosques in Morocco that is open for non Muslim Visitors. So if you are planning to visit this beautiful Mosque, it is off the Boulevard Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, it will not be hard to find once you get there. There are few flights available at the Anfa Airport in Casablanca, Morocco.
There are many restaurants in the area providing different cuisines too.
Cafe Rich Bar
Chawarma at Casablanca Airport
L'Etoile Centrale
Delight
Rick's Menu
The hotels available to the area are,
Hyatt Regency
Place des Nations Unies, Casablanca
Sheraton Casablanca Hotel & Towers
100 Avenue des F.A.R., Casablanca
Le Royal Mansour Meridien
27 Av de l'Armee Royale, Casablanca
Hotel Galia
19 Rue Ibn Batouta, Casablanca
Barcelo Casablanca Hotel
139 Blvd d'Anfa, Casablanca
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