[LifeStyle] Morocco.. a program to restore mosques in order to preserve the architectural heritage

[Guest High King Eslam]

Morocco has a rich record of historical architecture, which is embodied in particular in the heritage mosques and mosques scattered in several cities in the Kingdom, amid calls to restore respect for these buildings that form part of the country's identity.

The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs is working hard to preserve this historical architecture and its continuity, through a special program to restore these religious historical buildings that were classified as national and human heritage.

The Ministry classifies, within the list of historic mosques, all places designated for religious rites and their movables that have a historical character or carry spiritual, cultural, aesthetic or functional value.

Scientific restoration

And the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Al-Tawfiq, revealed in Parliament recently that there are 976 historical mosques in various ancient cities of the Kingdom, as well as what are known as oases and palaces, which are villages in the southeast of the country.

The minister confirmed that the restoration and rehabilitation process included 91 old mosques, during the past twenty years, at a total cost equivalent to 653 million dirhams (about 65 million dollars), in addition to the restoration of 17 mosques at the present time, at a financial cost of 31 million dirhams, and 29 other mosques in the process. the study.

The minister also highlighted that the ministry is working, for the first time, on scientific training for artisans in order to teach them restoration techniques, after the ministry had previously striven in restoration by working with contractors and teachers.

Academy of Traditional Arts

The Ministry is working on scientifically training craftsmen, with the aim of restoring heritage mosques and mosques, at the Academy of Traditional Arts affiliated with the Hassan II Mosque Foundation in Casablanca.

The academy, which was established at the end of October 2012, is “a distinguished platform dedicated to high-level training in the field of traditional arts, which is based on acquiring scientific knowledge and developing craft prowess,” according to Abdel Samad Haddadi, Assistant Director General in charge of training and research at the Academy of Traditional Arts.

Haddadi continued, in an interview with Sky News Arabia, that "the students of the Academy of Traditional Arts benefit from the skill and experience of senior craftsmen who left their mark through traditional handicraft work in all parts of the Kingdom, and some of whom contributed to the construction of the Hassan II Mosque."

And the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, opened in 1993, and a group of craftsmen and teachers of various traditional crafts worked in it, as it is distinguished by its architecture inspired by the purity and cultural richness of the architecture that Morocco was known for over the centuries.

“Through the training that the Academy of Traditional Arts teaches, it contributes to enriching and strengthening the national traditional industry sector, in addition to its cultural role related to its contribution to promoting and preserving the artistic and cultural aspects of our Moroccan identity,” said the official at the Academy of Arts affiliated with the Mosque Foundation.

Regulations for the restoration of mosques

In his interpretation of the uniqueness of ancient mosques and mosques in the Kingdom, the academic expert in Islamic antiquities, Mounir Aksabi, considers that “Moroccan religious architecture is unique in a number of characteristics in terms of designs and decorative forms. We must document them, inventory them, study them, and complete an architectural charter for the restoration of such buildings.”

In his statement to “Sky News Arabia,” Aksabi highlighted that “rehabilitation of religious architecture requires the use of traditional building techniques and materials, because this is a rehabilitation of the ancient skills and knowledge related to the authentic traditional Moroccan construction.”

The academic expert in Islamic antiquities also pointed out that “there are controls for restoring historical monuments stipulated in the Venice Charter of 1964.”

Aksabi explained, “The monument is restored as it was during its construction, or close to that, by removing the added modern elements and reproducing the missing parts, in addition to preserving all parts of the monument and not differentiating between its components, then using light materials if the monument needs modern structures.” .

The speaker also warned that "religious monuments have undergone important developments throughout their history, such as previous restorations, partial or total reconstruction, or multiple additions and expansions, which requires that the restoration steps be exact through tribal studies."

Advancement of architectural specificities

Abdel Latif El Khammar, a professor of history and archeology at a multidisciplinary college in Taza, says, “The process of restoring mosques is no longer the domain of architects only. Historical science so that there is a briefing on all aspects of the heritage building.

In his interview with "Sky News Arabia", Al-Khammar believes that "relying on a multidisciplinary team has contributed to the improvement and improvement of performance related to the restoration of historical buildings in general and mosques in particular in Morocco."

He stressed that "rehabilitation of ancient mosques began at the beginning of the millennium, as the Kingdom enacted a policy to advance the architectural specificities of Moroccan mosques."

And the researcher went on to say that the guardian ministry noticed that “the mosques in the Kingdom are no longer built in the style of the original traditional Moroccan architecture, and these modern buildings have nothing to do with the architectural and historical heritage of Moroccan mosques.”

And he added, “Morocco has constants in architecture, which necessitates that its specificities should not be absent from the construction of mosques. Since the seventies of the last century, a decline has begun in this framework.”

https://www.i3lam-al3arab.com/المغرب-برنامج-لترميم-المساجد-حفاظا-عل/