The Hassan II Mosque (Arabic: مسجد الحسن الثاني) is a mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. It is the second largest functioning mosque in Africa and is the 14th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world's second tallest minaret at 210 metres (689 ft). Completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau under the guidance of King Hassan II and built by Moroccan artisans from all over the kingdom. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean; worshippers can pray over the sea but there is no glass floor looking into the sea. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside ground.
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Hassan II Mosque in the context of Port of Casablanca
The Port of Casablanca (Arabic: ميناء الدار البيضاء , French: Port de Casablanca ) refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Casablanca's harbours and which handle Casablanca's shipping. The port is located near Hassan II Mosque.
The Port of Casablanca is one of the largest artificial ports in Morocco and in the world, though it was eclipsed when Tangiers-Med—a cargo port 40 km east of Tangiers and the largest on the Mediterranean coast of Africa in terms of capacity—went into service in 2007. The Port of Casablanca's initial capacity was 3,5 million shipment containers.
Hassan II Mosque in the context of Zellij
Zellij (Arabic: زليج, romanized: zillīj), also spelled zillij or zellige, is a style of mosaic tilework made from individually hand-chiseled tile pieces. The pieces were typically of different colours and fitted together to form various patterns on the basis of tessellations, most notably elaborate Islamic geometric motifs such as radiating star patterns composed of various polygons. This form of Islamic art is one of the main characteristics of architecture in the western Islamic world. It is found in the architecture of Morocco, the architecture of Algeria, early Islamic sites in Tunisia, and in the historic monuments of al-Andalus (in the Iberian Peninsula). From the 14th century onwards, zellij became a standard decorative element along lower walls, in fountains and pools, on minarets, and for the paving of floors.
After the 15th century, the traditional mosaic zellij fell out of fashion in most countries except for Morocco, where it continues to be produced today. Zellij is found in modern buildings making use of traditional designs such as the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca which adds a new color palette with traditional designs. The influence of zellij patterns was also evident in Spanish tiles produced during the Renaissance period and is seen in some modern imitations painted on square tiles.