Vessel: SH Diana (IMO: 9921740)
Location: Casablanca, Morocco
No prizes for guessing the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of this location. The irony of that whole scenario is that not a single frame was shot in Morocco and none of the cast or crew ever set foot in the country. In 1942, the Moroccan city was in enemy hands (as was depicted in the movie), so the notion of filming there was unthinkable.
As our tour bus exited the wharf precinct, we drove straight past a 'Rick's Cafe' recreation, about the nearest thing you'll find to connect the movie and the location. Beyond that, there is little else to remark on in this busy commercial metropolis apart from perhaps the imposing Hassan II Mosque.
Much like the modern mosques I recall from the UAE, the Hassan II was completed in 1993 and designed by French architect Michel Pinseau. It was decorated by thousands of Moroccan craftspeople, with a monumental minaret rising about 200 metres and topped by a laser directed towards Mecca.
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| A close-up of a zellige mosaic from inside the Hassan II mosque (RE) |
The prayer hall covers roughly two hectares and features a vast retractable roof, heated floors, carved cedar, marble, painted plaster and elaborate zellige mosaics. A beam from the minaret can reportedly be seen up to 30 kilometres away.
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| Part of the vast interior of the Hassan II Mosque (RE) |
The complex can accommodate approximately 25,000 worshippers inside, with space for tens of thousands more on the surrounding esplanade from where I took the above photo. It is also one of the relatively few major Moroccan mosques that non-Muslims like us may enter. All things considered, this is another very impressive modern mosque.
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| Amazigh text |
The other interesting thing I learned is that Morocco has a unique language, spoken by about a quarter of the population, in addition to Arabic and French. The Berber language (Tamazight) is a native language of North Africa and a branch of the Afroasiatic family, to which Ancient Egyptian and Hebrew belong.
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