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SPAIN

Rabat

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Rabat

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Saïdia

Zagora

CANARY ISLANDS

ALGERIA

Editorial

Rabat in history

Rabat, a majestic beauty

Rabat, a capital city with its face to the future

Rbati craftwork - excellence and sophistication

Rabat, cultural capital

Things to do in the city

Salé, the twin sister

The region

Information and useful addresses

MAURITANIA

Editorial

Rabat, city of elegance

Rabat, capital of the Kingdom, is more than worth your attention – a city where

tranquillity and discretion go hand in hand with sophistication and the art of

good living. A resolutely modern town that has nonetheless preserved all its

authenticity, its historical heart combines elegantly with its modernity. It stands

proudly at the mouth of the River Bouregreg, its colourful yachting harbour a

delight to the eye, its ochre-hued walls surrounded by brilliant green nettle trees

with the cries of the seagulls as a background.

A beautiful city justifiably proud of its heritage, Rabat lives and breathes

among wide boulevards and luxuriant parks. It is the country’s political and

administrative centre and its seat of government, containing the royal palace

and the embassies to the Kingdom, and the many fine edifices that adorn it

bear magnificent witness to a history reaching back into Antiquity. It is also the

cultural capital, with a plethora of museums and exhibitions, and acting as host

to major international festivals that draw a wide audience.

On the other side, on the right bank of the river, its twin sister Salé has preserved

the memory of the corsairs of bygone days, leading you off into the maze of its

medina in discovery of its mysterious past.

Whether you’re coming to the city as a tourist, on business or to live, you will

find Rabat and its region a perfect setting for discovery, shopping and relaxation.

Rabat, in all its elegance, guarantees visitors a royal welcome.

Rabat, a city with its

face turned resolutely

seawards

Rabat in history

Historical landmarks

The earliest traces of humanity in Rabat

date back to the 8th century BC, on the

present-day site of the Chellah. It was

the Romans who gave the name to the

place, a deformation of the Latin word

“Sala” meaning “castle”. They set up a

river port there, which disappeared with

the fall of the Roman Empire.

Berber tribes settled there, on lower ground

on either side of the Bouregreg. In the

10th century, soldier-monks built a “ribat”

(fortified monastery) on top of a thirty-

metre cliff on the right bank of the river,

an edifice that was later to give the city its

name and from which Abd al-Moumen,

founder of the Almohad dynasty (Berber

tribes from the High Atlas who had been

converted to Islam) led his holy war.

In 1150, he helped with the fortifica-

tion of the kasbah, turning it into a

fortress that played a major role in the

conquest of Andalusia and in control-

ling the rest of the Maghreb. This

edifice, the present Oudaya Kasbah,

was named “Ribat al Fath” (Camp

of Victory) in commemoration of the

Almohad conquests.

In the late 12th century, the powerful

Almohad sovereign Yacoub El Man-

sour built the, Hassan Tower in the

image of the Koutoubia in Marrakech

and the Giralda in Seville, and forti-

fied the kasbah, surrounding it with

two towering walls entered through

five gateways.

Minaret of the Chellah

mosque overlooking the

mouth of the river

Entrance to the royal palace

Yacoub El Mansour died before he

finished his work, and the city lost

something of its allure. The world’s

largest mosque, the Hassan Tower,

was never to be completed. The end

of the Almohad dynasty hastened the

city’s decline.

Although the Merinids chose Fez

as their capital in the 13th century,

they did not lose their interest in Ra-

bat, building the Chellah Necropolis

outside its walls. In the years that fol-

lowed, Rabat was gradually to become

a city of pirates.

View over the Oudaya Kasbah

The pillar in Avenue de la Victoire, bea-

ring the inscription “Sois le bienvenue

au voyageur” (“Welcome, traveller”)

It was not until the coming of the

Alaouite dynasty that the city regained

its former glory. The Royal Palace, Dar-

al-Mahkzen, was built there in 1864 and

is still the place where all the Kingdom’s

foreign guests are received as well as

being the seat of government, where over

two thousand people live and work.

In 1912, Sultan Moulay Youssef

left Fez in favour of Rabat, making

it Morocco’s administrative capital.

Rabat has since become the country’s

second largest urban area, the seat of

government and of parliament.

Rabat, a majestic beauty

Rabat has taken care to expand and

develop harmoniously. Architectural ri-

gour is apparent everywhere – wide tree-

and flower-lined boulevards, building

rarely more than five storeys high, and

administrative and residential districts

where tranquillity reigns supreme. The

“city of flowers”, as Marshal Lyautey

liked to call it, is also an authentic Mo-

roccan city, the very opposite of a capital

without a soul. If you need convincing,

just make your way through the little

streets of its medina and the major

roads through the new town.

The wall that surrounds the old town

is entered through 5 monumental

stone gateways (Bab el Alou, Bab el

Had, Bab Essoufara, Bab er-Rouah

and Bab Zaërs). The largest of these

Almohad creations is Bab er-Rouah,

its monumental sculpted stone fa-

cade standing between two projecting

towers. Its inner rooms have been res-

tored and now serve as an exhibition

gallery. It was here, in 1960, that

the first collective exhibition by Mo-

roccan painters was held, testimony

to the burgeoning of artistic creation

in the field of modern painting. 200

metres further on, the Ambassadors’

Gate (Bab Essoufara) gives access to

the mechouar, a vast square where the

major celebrations in honour of the

King take place and where the royal

palace also stands

The Chellah: Sala Colonia

Rabat, a stork’s paradise

The Chellah is located about 2 km from

the city centre and is made up of the

necropolis itself and the ancient city of

Sala. The ruins, with their omnipresent

birdlife, nesting storks and wild vegeta-

tion, must be one of Rabat’s most arres-

ting features. Protected by an imposing

surrounding wall and accessed through a

monumental gateway, the necropolis is

an oasis of tranquillity, a peaceful flower-

Mohammed V Mausoleum esplanade

filled garden containing an ablutions

room, a zaouia with an oratory, the zellij-

adorned Merinid minaret, and a series of

burial rooms.

nineteen naves, not counting its late-

ral porticos. It was on this site that the

Mohammed V Mausoleum was built, in

fitting tribute to the Nation’s liberator.

The Hassan Tower

The remains of the Hassan Tower

bear witness to the size of what was to

have been one of the largest places of

worship anywhere in the Muslim world.

Its construction was abandoned upon

the death of its founder in 1199, and

the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 caused

further damage. The mosque comprised

a great courtyard laid out over deep, res-

tored cisterns and reaching to the foot

of the minaret, and an immense hy-

postyle room whose 312 columns and

42 marble pillars were arranged to form

Changing of the Royal Guard

The Hassan Tower

The Mohammed V Mausoleum

The design and decoration of the Mo-

hammed V Mausoleum take one’s

breath away. This masterpiece of tra-

ditional Moroccan art, with its painted

woodwork, sculpted plasterwork and

marble, and chiselled bronze, required

all the know-how of the Kingdom’s mas-

ter craftsmen. Mohammed V’s tomb is

carved from a block of white onyx and

stands in the centre of the edifice’s lower

level. Today, his two sons, the late King

Hassan II and Prince Moulay Abdallah,

rest in peace alongside him.

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