Hassan II Mosque

🕌 Hassan II Mosque City of Casablanca

🟨 The Hassan II Mosque is located near the old city of Casablanca, on the Atlantic coast.

🟨 It is the largest mosque in Morocco, the second largest in Africa, and the 13th largest in the world. Its minaret, designed in the Andalusian style, rises 210 meters (689 feet), making it the second tallest religious building in the world. The mosque spans an area of 625 square meters and is adorned with zellige (mosaic tiles) and marble. It features two large main doors, four side doors, and a dedicated entrance for women. Inside, there are stairs and a fast elevator that can take visitors to the top of the minaret in under a minute.

🟨 Designed by French architect Michel Pinseau and constructed by the French group Bouygues, the project was managed by its Moroccan subsidiary, Bymaro. The mosque covers 20,000 square meters and can accommodate up to 25,000 worshippers inside, and 80,000 including the courtyard. Construction began in 1987 and was completed during the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birth in 1993.

🟨 The mosque includes a large prayer hall for women, ablution facilities for both men and women, baths, and a large parking garage for cars.

🟨 The Hassan II Mosque incorporated advanced technology to serve both modern construction and traditional Moroccan craftsmanship. This involved 2,500 workers, 10,000 craftsmen, and 50,000 hours of labor. The tallest crane in the world was custom-designed to match the height of the minaret, which reaches 200 meters and is crowned with a shining lantern. Reinforced concrete, four times stronger than usual, was used—not for supporting a tunnel, but to build this unmatched minaret.

🟨 Ultimately, the Hassan II Mosque is a continuation of a long tradition of Islamic architecture, particularly of the Andalusian heritage, with Moroccan influences. It draws its beauty from the ancient Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, which is over a thousand years old. It also inherits much of the grandeur from the Hassan Tower in Rabat, the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh, and the Giralda in Seville, all built by the Almohad Sultan, Yaqub al-Mansur.

🟨 Like the Marinid schools, the Hassan II Mosque also houses a library, but the attached museum elevates it to a true cultural complex, adding richness to the building as it fulfills its religious mission. The mosque's connection to the ocean gives it a unique character, symbolizing the spread of Islam across both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Its design is inspired by the Quranic verse: "And His Throne was upon the water" (Quran 11:7).