Casablanca Essential: The Hassan II Mosque, the Old Medina, the Corniche, the Art Deco Architecture, Rick's Cafe, and the Real Morocco Behind the Movie Myth
The Casablanca essential circuit covers the Hassan II Mosque as the largest active mosque outside Mecca, the old medina as the authentic pre-colonial city, the Corniche Atlantic Boulevard, the Art Deco commercial district, the mythological Rick's Cafe tribute, and the real Casablanca as Morocco's economic capital behind the Hollywood myth.
- 1
Hassan II Mosque: The Atlantic Ocean Prayer Hall
The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, completed in 1993 and designed by the French architect Michel Pinseau, is the largest active mosque in Africa, the third largest in the world after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and the Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, and the only mosque in the world built partially over the ocean on the reinforced concrete platform extending into the Atlantic. The 210-meter minaret is the tallest religious structure in the world and the hydraulically retractable roof over the prayer hall allows the ocean light and air to enter the space that accommodates 25,000 worshippers inside and 80,000 in the outer courtyard. The mosque is open to non-Muslim visitors on guided tours.
- 2
Casablanca Old Medina: The Pre-Colonial City
The Casablanca old medina, a compact 16-hectare walled medina on the Atlantic coast, is the original city that the Portuguese built as Anfa in 1515 and the Alaouite sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah rebuilt as Casa Branca (White House) in 1770 after the earthquake destruction. The old medina, small and easily navigated compared to Fes or Marrakech, maintains the most authentically working-class single medina in Morocco with the produce market, the clothing stalls, and the food vendors serving the Casablanca working population rather than the tourist circuit that the city commercial center never developed.
- 3
Corniche: The Atlantic Boulevard
The Casablanca Corniche (Boulevard de la Corniche), the Atlantic seafront boulevard running 10 kilometers from the Hassan II Mosque to the Ain Diab beach resort suburb, is the most cosmopolitan single urban promenade in Morocco with the Art Deco beach clubs, the Moorish Revival seafront hotels, the contemporary restaurants, and the Atlantic Ocean beach running the full boulevard length. The Corniche is the primary leisure infrastructure of the Casablanca working population and the evening promenade culture of the Casablanca middle class is the most extensive single urban outdoor leisure space in Morocco.
- 4
Casablanca Art Deco: The Moorish-Colonial Architecture
The Casablanca Art Deco commercial district, built by the French Protectorate from 1920 to 1955 as the most ambitious single urban commercial development project in colonial Africa, contains the largest single collection of Moorish Revival and Art Deco buildings outside Miami or Buenos Aires with the Banque du Maroc building, the Central Market, the Place des Nations Unies commercial buildings, and the Art Deco apartment blocks of the Habous New Medina representing the most consciously hybrid single architectural style in colonial urbanism.
- 5
Rick's Cafe: The Movie Myth and the Real Restaurant
Rick's Cafe in the Casablanca old medina, the restaurant opened in 2004 by the American Kathy Kriger in a 1930s riad to evoke the bar-restaurant of the 1942 Humphrey Bogart film, is the most commercially successful single film-tribute restaurant in the world with the black-and-white photographs, the piano player performing the film soundtrack, and the Moroccan-French cuisine designed to reference the film. The real Casablanca of 1942 had no Rick's Cafe and the Casablanca film was shot entirely in Hollywood. Rick's Cafe is the most knowing single self-referential tourist attraction in Morocco and the most atmospherically accomplished tribute to a fictional place.
- 6
Real Casablanca: Morocco's Economic Capital
The real Casablanca, the city of 4.5 million that generates 50 percent of Morocco's industrial production and 70 percent of its financial activity, is the most economically modern and the most demographically diverse single Moroccan city with the urban migration from every Moroccan region creating the most cosmopolitan working-class population in North Africa. The Casablanca that the visitor encounters beyond the Hassan II Mosque and Rick's Cafe is the most directly contemporary and the most commercially dynamic single Moroccan urban experience with the shopping malls, the financial district towers, the cafe culture, and the night entertainment that represents the Morocco that the future will more resemble than the medina heritage that the tourist circuit prioritizes.