tourism☆marocain

More calm as Casablanca, Rabat city is a pleasant and airy, open to the ocean. Behind the walls of the necropolis of Chellah, caquètement of thousands of birds replaces the roar of engines. In the alleys of the flowery casbahs of Oudaïa, agitation city seems just as distant. The capital of the kingdom, devoid of any industrial activity, is only the second city in the country. Rabat, however, has all the attributes of a capital city, at least in the vicinity and along the avenue Mohammed-V. It must Lyautey to have been chosen as the administrative centre of the country, which recalls the distribution of ministries in the vicinity of the embassy of France. This is in remembrance of the times that the tomb of Mohammed V, father Hassan II and renovator of national sovereignty, was raised symbolically beside the tower Hassan, on the ruins of the mosque in this distant predecessor. The visit Rabat will be complemented by that of his former rival. Salé, separated only by the estuary of the Bou Regreg today administratively incorporated into the capital. Discover Rabat Walking 1 - The medina. This very short walk leads through the shopping areas where most of the bazaars. It allows especially joining the casbahs of Oudaïa. 2 - The Oudaïa and casbahs of the museum Oudaïa We walk with pleasure in the Andalusian garden flowers and alleys of this city preserved. It focuses its Moorish coffee to taste overlooking the Wadi Bou Regreg and Salé before visiting the museum. 3 - Tour Hassan and the mausoleum of Mohammed V. This site is worth a look for the minaret of the mosque, built in the twelfth century and the tomb of p of Hassan II. 4 - The Chellah necropolis. It forms one of the most romantic of Morocco. In its wild gardens, gaze breaststroke valley wadi. The storks claquettent on towers and necropolis' s élancent above the ancient Sala whose ruins are still searched. 5 - The royal palace, the archaeological museum and the new city. It will pass in front of the royal palace before visiting the museum. Archaeological. Parkway finally on the shopping avenue Mohammed V. Rabat à la carte. The art of Morocco. The museum: Oudaïa meets a beautiful set of costumes, jewelry, carpets, etc.. And former contemporaries. The Almohad architecture. The door oudaia, Bab er Raouah Hassan and the tower are beautiful specimens Memories of antiquity. The Roman ruins of Chellah have no power evocative ruins of Volubilis and Lixus but the archaeological museum houses a remarkable collection of bronzes. The flowers and gardens. If a contest was held in Morocco, Rabat receive the first prize of flowers. The broad avenues crossing. the modern city, small garden villas surrounding residential areas, the Andalusian-style garden of the casbahs of Oudaïa, flora and exuberant semi wild in the necropolis of Chellah, finally, the magnificent gardens exotic Sidi Bouknadel contribute to Rabat the city of flowers. Living Rabat. with its avenues, its cafes, its many gardens and the sea always close. Rabat is a city where life is good. City of embassies and ministries, Rabat has many officials and residents are much less stressed than those of Casablanca. There is a provincial atmosphere almost unique in Morocco. Rabat manual If we hurry, you can visit the mausoleum of Chellah, the tower Hassan, the casbahs of Oudaïa and the archaeological museum. Ideally, if one has a day is to leave his car at the hotel. They may move walks through the new city, the medina and the casbahs of Oudaïa walk, then travel to the bus tour Hassan, the mausoleum of Chellah and the archaeological museum before returning on foot towards the city centre new. This solution avoids retrace his steps. Programs A half-day. Walk around the car to the casbahs of Oudaïa, who discovered the door, the museum, garden and coffee Moorish, then we will see the tower Hassan and the Chellah necropolis. We end with the archaeological museum for his collection of bronzes of Volubilis. A day. In the morning, visit the medina and the casbahs of Oudaïa; could be lunch overlooking the ocean. In the afternoon, we will go by car to the tower Hassan, then the necropolis of Chellah and the archaeological museum, before agreeing a stroll through the modern city. Two days. The 2nd day, discovery of the nearby town of Sale (morning). Then stroll in the gardens of exotic Sidi Bouknadel, or could continue until the casbahs of Mehdia and Mehdia-Plage. Rabat in history The ancient city. The excavations have led to the Chellah discovery of a city dating back at least the third century av. J.-C.. Point of call likely browsers Phoenician and Carthaginian, it struck in the late 1st century av. J.-C., currency legend neo-Punic. It seems that it enjoyed under the kings Mauritanian, a certain independence. Cited by the names of Sala by Ptolemy and Sala Colonia in the Itinerary of Antonin, the city was probably occupied during the reign of Claude before becoming a municipality under Trajan, and to be a little later elevated to the rank of colony. From Ribat in Rabat. In the eighth century extended, near the present site of the city, the territory of Berbers Berghouata, followers of heresy kharidjite. This situation led quite naturally to the tenth century, creating a fortified monastery, or ribat, or Muslim warriors Orthodox, who have more than one common trait with the Templars, were conducting for several centuries war Sainte against the Berghouata. The first Almohad capital. It is probably around 1146, after the fall of Fez, qu'Abd el Mou'men went master of the country. Taking quickly see the value of the position of ribat and the nearby town of Sale for a kingdom whose capital was in Marrakech, he began to adjust the ribat a casbahs, with a fortress palace where he stayed in several occasions. It was then the fulcrum of the camp and gathered the mujahideen, the fighters of the Faith, the departure and return of campaigns in Spain. His small-son, Yacoub el Mansour, dreamed of making its capital. When he died in 1199, had already raised a large compound and the mosque remained unfinished, including the tower Hassan is the most impressive souvenir. Ribat el Fath, designed according to a plan too ambitious, périclita after the death of its founder and reduced the size of a small town. After the struggles between Almohads and Merinides and lean attempted them to raise the (construction of the Grand Mosque and the necropolis of Chellah), the city continued to decline: Leon Africans, in the sixteenth century, â said reduced a hundred dwellings. Salé-le-Neuf and Salé-le-Vieux. The arrival in 1609, Muslim refugees from Spain, the Andalusian, the first provoked a renaissance of the city. Among them, a large contingent of Hornacheros (from Hornachos), helped the saadien sultan Moulay Zidân to strengthen his throne. The newcomers, joined by other Andalous, occupied the site of the present Medina, known then under the name of Sale-le-Neuf, as opposed to Sale-le-Vieux located on the other side of Bou Regreg. A State living piracy. Hornacheros and Andalous instituèrent, 1627, a curious republic under the name Republic of Bou Regreg. The current casbahs of Oudaïa took the place of their capital. A caïd elected for one year, assisted by a council, presided over the destiny of this strange small state living piracy and occupying his leisure time continuous struggles between triangular Andalous, Hornacheros el inhabitants of the Old Sale. Piracy in this republic procured all its resource. The money collects in Spain by Hornacheros permit them to equip a large fleet and their thirst for vengeance did the rest. The European renegades came to join them, as the Dutchman Jan Janssen, best known for his formidable exploits in the name of Morat RaÏs. Pirates but traders. The Spanish and Portuguese vessels were at the beginning the only victims of this war of course then, he, like pirates of Algiers, Saletins s'attaquèrent to all vessels. They ventured into British waters and even in the vicinity of Newfoundland. France and England had particularly suffered from this aggression, especially as their port almost inviolable and casbahs virtually impregnable rendered useless demonstrations naval retaliation. The European powers chose to negotiate. A merchant from Marseilles, Pierre Mazet, installs in the city since 1626, was the first consul of the French nation. " Somewhat paradoxically, by the way, the European power does not reluctant to trade with their Saletins selling even need weapons and ammunition. The annexation of the Republic of Bou Regreg Chérifien the kingdom in 1666 not only changed the order of things. A governor Alawite came simply attend the caïd and conduct transactions on behalf of the sovereign. Despite the reprisals, piracy will do no end that during the reign of Mou-y Abd er Rahman. His last act will in 1829, seizing a ship of Austria. capital of modern Morocco - The attempt of Sidi Mohammed ben Abdillah create a new city inside the old wall Almohad proved a failure. According chénier Louis, father André Chénier, consul of France from 1767 to 1782, she was already in 1781, five years after its construction, a pile of ruins. The palace, however, will be attending by the sultans. That is conducted in 1845-1846, negotiations with the french government. Rabat chosen in 1912 by Lyautey to be the country's administrative capital and seat of the Residence. The decision of the sultan Moulay Youssef to settle there in a palace built on the site adopted by its ancestor Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah, was to give this a final choice. 1 - The medina Stalls of tinplate, carpets and leather animate this medina more calm and less picturesque than Salé. Duration: 40 minutes Start: crossroads of Avenue Mohammed V Avenue and Hassan-Il - The wall of Andalons, long bulwark straight reinforced towers, limit the Medina South. Its name comes from Andalusian or "Moriscos" Muslims driven out of Spain by Philip III in 1609-1610, which built the seventeenth century * A 200 m-Avenue Mohammed V, on the left. Is Bab el Had, the door [Market] Sunday. Remaniée in 1814 by Moulay Slimane, it opens onto the boulevard Amar Ibn Yassir between two powerful pentagonal towers. The door, one of five openings of the city, is famous for being in the nineteenth century, the place where the sultans were hanging heads of the rebels. The former speaker Almohad on which the door was probably completed in 1197. It grew more than 5 km. The most well-preserved remains .* Franchissant the wall of the Andalusians, immediately turn right onto Souiqa. -- The street Souiqa is the main artery of the medina. There are spawning more or less a passage into the crowd, between two rows of small restaurants and shops, particularly food and hardware. In the latter, plastic, tin and manufactured increasingly replacing the products of traditional handicrafts. You will notice right after crossing the street Sidi Fatah, one of the entrances to the mosque Monlay Slimane, founded in 1812 by the sultan of the same name. Farther to the right, at the entrance to a small street back to Bab Chellah, three arches breezes, which once allowed to reach the basin, called attention to an old fountain Merinid, now occupied by a bookstore . Two series of blind arches key element pending preclude the inclusion of foundation that gives the Sultan Abu Farès Abd el Aziz (1366-1372) the construction of this small monument. -- The Great Mosque, probably based at the same time, the date in its current state of almost total reconstruction of 1882. The minaret, square, is decorated with berries whose arcs outrepassés are highlighted by arches at the top. The crown was added in 1939. -- The street Souk-es-Sebat, covered, extending the street Souiqa. This is the area of leather, cloth merchants and bazaars, fearsome traps for tourists not accustomed to haggling but they invite you with such kindness, entered "for the eyes! Then turn left on the streets of Consuls. -- The street leads Consuls left at the end of the covered part of Souk-es-Salt That, with the two previous ones. The most active of the medina. It is lined with shops of tailors, merchants fabrics and carpets. You can attend in the morning for sale at the auction. On the right of former fondouqs open. The street was, until 1912, place of residence required representatives of foreign powers. It noted by the way, on the right, the alley consulate of France or Louis Chénier, the father of the poet, lived from 1767 to 1782. -- This street leads to the place of Souk el Ghezel (market Wool). In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Christian captives were presented to potential buyers. On the right. is the casbahs of Oudaïa. -- Overlooking the place of Souk el Ghezel, the small street Hadj Daoui allows sinking in the maze of alleyways of the medina. It covers an area which is calm contrasts with the animation of the old streets of the old city. The houses, which sometimes cross the road, are bent on their inner courtyard, only a door to coach more or less carved open to the world. Can be reached by the street Taht el Hammam, rue Sidi Fatah. -- The mosque of Moulay el Mekki, based near the tomb of the marabout death in the eighteenth century, was enlarged in 1907. She pointed to a door carved canopy and a ceiling painted in a vault spanning the street. Further, the street left on the dr. zaouïa the Sidi hen Aïssa and joined the mosque Moulay Slimane, shortly before the wall of the Andalusians. -- From the square Souk el Ghezel, can also return to Avenue Mohammed V along the boulevard El-Alou, which borders part of a vast cemetery between the medina of the Coast. Shortly before Bab el Alou, the street Mohammed V-left, very commercial and lined with restaurants, continues through the wall of the Andalusians. 2 - The casbahs and museum Oudaïa Streets, flowery garden Andalusian and Moorish Café offer two steps of the medina an oasis of tranquillity. It will be fun to walk down this "village" or the sight Salé and extends over the ocean. Running time: 1 hour 30 to 2 pm Departure: instead of Souk el-Chezel. Note: three very nice restaurants, two on the beach and the last near the platform. -- The walls of the casbahs of Oudaïa, except the part about the Andalusian garden, dates from the time Almohad. In rubble, thick and 2.50 m high 8 to 10 m, it is equipped with a walk. It was partially strengthened in the seventeenth and eighteenth century The southern part, before the stairs instead relies on a bastion heptagonal still equipped with old guns. She was raised by Moulay Rachid er between 1666 and 1672 to increase the defences of casbahs primitive. The tower cut, which was noticed shortly before the monumental door Oudaïa, is an addition or reconstruction, without doubt the seventeenth century, when Hornacheros is retranchaient in the casbahs to resist the Andalusians of the medina. - The door of Oudaïa, built in stone red ochre, seems to have had a mostly decorative role. It can by the way, in this regard, be seen as one of the jewels of art Almohad. Its construction is attributed to Yacoub el Mansour, who wanted to make Ribat el Fath its capital and would have added to the wall Abd el Mou'men. It served perhaps, in the immediate vicinity of the palace, reception hall and the court. A Muslim author, Mohammed cig Jendar, designates as the "Gallery of majestic palaces." The carved decoration, repeated on the domestic front, is sober and well balanced. The écoinçons embellished with a floral decoration boxes are an inscription in letters coufiques now very worn. At birth festonnés arcs, we can see the ground serpentiformes, rare examples of animal performances in the Moroccan decoration. The cemetery el-Alou, left 1y door is the subject of a "pilgrimage" once a year in honour of Lalla Kasba, which the girls call a good husband. The street Jamaa [form the main artery of this area. It extends over the location of the convent fortress-X "s. Almoravid and ribat, which is nothing left. With the exception of houses, it is difficult to date, most visible remains date back the XII century and for the rest, the time of the Republic of Bou Regreg and the first sovereign alaouites. Jamaa el-Atiqa is the oldest mosque in Rabat. Founded by Abd el Mou'men to 1150 and rebuilt several times It was largely rebuilt during the reign of Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (1757-1797) by a renegade English, Ahmed el Inglizi. Minaret, decorated with blind arches, is probably the work of one of the first sovereign alaouites. - The platform of the old flag, down the street Jamaa left, offers the side of the ocean a superb panorama on the estuary of the Bou Regreg and Salé. At the foot of the platform, a circular tour of the eighteenth century and the sqala, fort built in 1776 by Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah, defended the estuary of the Bou Regreg. On the square, a warehouse built in the late eighteenth century by Moulay el Yazid home to a cooperative or we'll see girls in the process of weaving carpets Resume Jamaa Street and turn left onto Lâalami. - The tower pirates was undoubtedly added to the enclosure in the seventeenth century Almohad At the foot of the wall, Mdoura it is a work plan circular elevated to the XIX s. grids unfortunately prohibit access to the tower. Back on the streets Jamaa and down. Bazzo The street that you will take on the left in the street Jamaa, down by a flight of steps up Café Maure. - The Moor Café, with its benches covered with mats, files decorated with mosaics, open to wind and 1'ocean. savoring one-horned gazelle accompanied by a tea the mint, you can let your eyes wander on the upper parts of the casbahs, on speaker Almohad and the mouth of the wadi which separates Rabat from Sale. This coffee, despite its celebrity, remains one of the places Rabatis favourite.-The garden is accessible from the Café Maure by a door. This haven of peace was created in 1915-1918 like the Andalusian gardens with its perpendicular aisles, its storied parterres, its traditional noria and its vegetation exuberant. - The Museum of Oudaïa It can be reached by leaving a vault in the highest gardens and turning immediately to dr. The museum, renovated in 1995, is installed in a building high Moulay IsmaÏl, probably between 1672 and 1694. Sultan lived in this house during his stay in Rabat. The building includes a courtyard gates, decorated in the centre of a cauldron of marble, and surrounded by main building on all four sides. A tower dominates all that complemented a small mosque, preceded by a covered court today, and a hammam You will see mainly carpets, illuminated manuscripts, costumes, various pottery, a Moroccan interior of the past with its divans covered with gold brocades and silk made in Fez in the second half of the nineteenth century Other pieces of embroidery are presented in display cases. Art city par excellence, embroidery offers from one city to another r variations in the choice of grounds geometry plants or zoomorphic as in the tissues, son, and points their employees.-On leaving the museum Or you can visit the craft center. Turn left out of the casbahs, the centre located a hundred metres contrebas left. It is a complex, modern or work a few tisans (copper, embroidery, leather work ...); purchases possible. - To reach the beginning of the walk next we must go along the riverside for about twenty minutes. On the edge of a large avenue, the ride is not attractive (and may even be trying to full heat): better will take a bus. The wharf Al Marsa, along the port, attended only by boat (which should include the passage of pedestrians to Sale). His access is indeed hampered by a phenomenon helm. The dock goes below the borj Lalla Qadiya near the shrine the same name or pilgrims returning from Mecca spent the night before returning home. 0n reached the end of the wharf at Sidi borj Makhlouf, which builds the wall of the Andalusians. borj Sidi Makhlouf, early XVI takes its name of a small mausoleum in the vicinity, right. coast of the former Jewish quarter, the Jewish Quarter, which was transferred here by the sultan Moulay Slimane, in 1808. Sidi Makhlouf, Jewish origin, converts to Islam and managed to earn the veneration of Muslims through his great piety and the miracles he was doing. He repeated, they say, the miracle of Moses splitting in the waters of Bou Regreg to allow a student, who wanted to experience it, cross it on foot dry. .... 3 - Tour Hassan and the mausoleum of Mohammed V The tomb of the father of independence stands opposite the tower Hassan, a former minaret of a mosque built the twelfth century: a symbol. Running time: 1 / 2 hour for the visit of the two monuments. - The tower Hassan is the minaret of a mosque built on the order of Yacoub el Mansour. It should be, after the mosque from Friday in Samarra (Iraq), the world's largest Muslim. Company likely before 1195, its construction was abandoned in the death of its founder (1199). Thereafter, the inhabitants of Rabat y prélevèrent materials; trembling Land abîma in 1755. In 1956, Mohammed V returned from exile headed to the first Friday prayers after the independence of Morocco. The mosque itself was defined by four walls, for the most part collapsed, pierced sixteen doors: four in North and East, two in the south., six in the West. It covered, with its annexes, an area of 183 m by 140. It included a large Court, housed over deep tanks (restored) lying at the foot of the minaret, and an immense hypostyle hall with 42 columns and 312 pillars of marble s'ordonnaient so as to form ten-nine halls, not counting the side gates. The tower Hassan, whose kinship with the famous Giralda in Seville and Koutoubia Marrakesh appears at first glance, is a tower of 16.20 square meters later and 44 m tall. If we compare its proportions to those of its twin It can be assumed that the measure would double. The walls have not less than 2050 m thick. The interior stairs are replaced by a ramp off 2 m and fresh enough to be climbed to horse. Six small rooms, vaulted each in different ways, ranging in the central core. The external faces of the minaret are decorated in the traditional way, arches and interlacing but whose provision varies on each side. In foot of the tower, two large staircases descend to the tomb of the unknown soldier, established in the area of the former mosque. A modern pavement strewn with columns, strangely reminiscent of those Buren at the Palais Royal in Paris, establishes a link between these remains a glorious time and the mausoleum of Mohammed V - is known commonly mausoleum of Mohammed V entire complex of buildings which includes the mausoleum itself. Completed in 1971, the monument surprised by the bias of classicism who has presided over its design and decoration. This masterpiece of Moroccan traditional art that is painted wood, plaster and marble sculptures, carved bronze. The design of this ensemble, performs on a frame of concrete, is due to an architect of Vietnamese origin, Vo Toan. In the center, topped by several rows of green tiled roofs, stretches the mosque whose facade stone blonde opens with multiple arches on an inner courtyard. A left that This, the mausoleum itself is preceded by two flights of stairs that lead to the monumental koubba white Italian marble, which stand in front of the royal guards bathrobe white and red. The sarcophagus of Mohammed V, size in a block d 'white onyx Pakistan, is located in the centre, the lower level of the building, while that of his son, Prince Moulay Abdallah (d. 1983), is placed in the corner. A gallery gone around to the Floor, in which the flags are suspended cities of Morocco. nervée A magnificent dome, formed by the joining of two pieces of mahogany carving and colourful windows made by the manufacturer Saint-Gobain, covering whole. The great chandelier bronze dore weighs about 1.5 tonnes - A right of the mosque, counterbalancing the mausoleum, a portico arches of white marble quarries, finely sculpted, crown a building which was to host a museum dedicated to the Alawite dynasty, but who, for mysterious reasons, has not yet emerged. 4 - The Chellah necropolis of Chellah necropolis Merinid includes two sites: the necropolis itself and the ancient city of Sala. All these ruins , With its thousands of birds, storks and wild vegetation, is one of the most endearing of Rabat. Admission: outside the walls, about 2 km from the centre, we will reach preferably a car, for example during a tour covering the parkway before. From the tower Hassan, just follow boulevards that bypass the city Visit time: 1 hour - The door, though richly decorated and open flanked by an arc of towers, not the purity of construction analogues1 then Almohad. Inside are former guard posts and the remains of a hotel. Decumanus Maximus, main track of the city, was reached at the bedside of the Capitoline temple whose facade north onto a secondary road, paved with large slabs. along this street, twelve deep shops formed the ground floor of buildings, probably private high on a succession terraces. It was also found the basement of the gatehouse, which was to communicate the forum and the Decumanus Maximus in NE - The necropolis Merinid of Chellah. Visit the first zaouïa crossing in front of the door, slightly left of the road. Leaving a first room naked, we are in the transition from the left zaouïa is very damaged but full of charm with its storks perched on the minaret. It retains part of its ornamentation polychrome pottery, but the lantern are recent bill. In the courtyard, a long basin was once surrounded by a portico with columns and capitals of marble. In withdrawal opened the cells, except the South or was a small oratory. Mohammed y have requests. There was a time or it was enough to make seven times around the mirhab to deserve the title of hajj, yet reserved for pilgrims who made the trip to Mecca. The mosque of Abu Youssef Yacoub (XIJle s.) located in the centre of the necropolis. A coast of its minaret in ruins, there is the tomb of Abu el Hassan, the "sultan black" (1331-1348), decorated with a beautiful canopy to stalactites. On the outside the SE corner of the mosque remains the cornerstone of tumulaire Chams ed Douha, the "Morning Sun", a European converted, the wife of Abu Hassan el 5 - The Royal Palace, the Archaeological Museum, the new city parkway This eclectic gives the measure dimensions Royal Dar el Makhzen. A coast, downtown seems reduced. He does not lack charm with its broad avenues, its animation and its nonchalant cafes or one takes pleasure to linger. For lovers of old stones, visit the Archaeological Museum of Rabat is the logical complement to the site of Volubilis. Departure: Chellah necropolis, taking his car or a bus to go quietly, with a few detours, the Archaeological Museum, which can also be reached directly by the avenue Yacoub-elMansour (4 km). Duration: 20 minutes to circumnavigate the Royal Palace and the door Zaer, the Archaeological Museum asks himself at least 30 minutes. -- The door to Zaer lies just opposite the Chellah necropolis. The door, one of five entries from pregnant almoha (XII century), was restored in the eighteenth century Its decor is very simple, is form of a series of claveaux, alternately indented and in projection, which emphasizes the Bay access. It is protected by two towers quadrangular. Internally, it consists of a succession of rooms vaulted into the cradle, arranged so that they provided a provision chicane, as in other books of the Almohad wall. -- At the height of the door Zaer, turn left onto the boulevard Moussa Ibn Nossair, then on the right towards the Royal Palace, completely conceals behind large walls. Le' premier Palais royal avait été fonde vers la fin du XVIIIe s. par Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah. Un autre fut érigé en 1864 par Sidi Mohammed ben Abd er Rabman. L'actuel Dar el Makbzen étend ses constructions au fond d'un immense mechouar entoure d'une enceinte particulière. Il comprend un palais moderne, une grande mosquée, ou moquée du Vendredi, un champ courses et divers bâtiments gouvernementaux. Si le roi possède des palais dans plupart des grandes villes, c'est en general là qu'il reside, entoure par près de 2000 personnes. - La mosquée el Faeh , située en face du Palais royal accueille, surtout pour la prière vendredi, un ballet incessant de limousines à bord desquelles se trouvent les dignitaires du régime. - La cour de la caserne de la Garde royale s'etend dans le prolongement de l'avenue. Le public est admis à asister à la ceremonie de l'envoi des couleurs. Tourner à gauche dans l'avenue Moulay Hassan pour jeter un coup d'œil i Bab er Rouah. - Bab er Rouah la porte des Vents, est la plus belle de l'enceinte almohade. Par ses proportions et sa décoration, elle rappelle celle de la kasba des Oudaïa. S'ouvrant entre deux bastions, la baie d'accès est ornée d'entrelacs, de, festons, d'arabesques fleuries et de grandes coquilles, motif assez fréquent sur les monuments de cette époque. Encadrant l'ensemble, un bandeau à inscriptions en caractère coufiques reproduit un verset du Coran. Revenir sur ses pas par l'avenue Moulay-Hassan. - La grande mosquée ou jama es Souna. Son minaret, qui domine tout. Rabat, a été bati au XVIII s. par Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah. Le bâtiment a été plusieurs fois restaure depuis lors. - Le Musée archéologique se trouve au 23, rue Brihi, au croisement de la rue Ifni, face à l'hôtel Chellah. Le musée est installé dans un bâtiment construit en 1932 par Adrien Laforgue. Il renferme des collections provenant des fouilles effectuées dans les divers sites du Maroc, de la préhistoire jusqu'aux époques modernes. Son intérêt réside principalement dans les bronzes trouves sur les sites de Volubilis, Lixus et Banasa. Rez-de-chaussée Sur le sol, reconstitution d'une mosaïque à décor géométrique de Volubilis. Au centre, statue en marbre de Ptolémée, découverte lors des fouilles de Sala. Ce fils de Juba II et de Cléopâtre Selené régna de 25 à 40 de notre ère. Il mourut assassine sur l'ordre de Caligula. Dans le patio, à droite de l'entrée, collection lapidaire: fragments arc bi tectoniques, autels, stèles et bases inscrites, caissons funéraires. Dans la niche de l'escalier, torse cuirasse en marbre provenant de Volubilis. Dans les vitrines, les collections de préhistoire évoquent les découvertes réalisées lors de différentes campagnes de fouilles. On remarque notamment le moulage de la sépulture d'un adulte et d'un enfant, provenant du site néolithique (3980 env. av.J.-c.) d'El Harhoura II. Galerie a l'étage Le site de Sala-Chellab. Les quatre premières vitrines évoquent l'histoire du site antique de Sala à travers des poteries, des lampes à huile, etc... On remarquera surtout dans la première vitrine une jambe de cavalier en bronze dore et un petit buste de Juba II. Population du paléolithique et du néolithique Les plus anciens témoignages de la présentée humaine sur le sol marocain ont été apportes par la découverte de restes humains fossilisés du paléolithique moyen à Mougharet el Alyia, près de Tanger. Les populations de l'époque pressentaient, semble-t-il, de grandes analogies avec les Néanderthaliens. Plusieurs autres découvertes, à Sidi Abderrahman, Casablanca, AÏn Fritissa, SaÏdia, montrent l'étendue de ce peuplement. Quant à la civilisation duneolithique, dont le plus beau vestige est le cromlech de Mzora , elle se prolongea presque jusqu'à la période historique, et ce avec ses techniques de fabrication d'armes et d'outils, ses croyances religieuses, ses coutumes funéraires. « De Rome à l'Islam». Dans les vitrines suivantes on verra une table d'autel paléochrétien ornée du monogramme du Christ, un encensoir byzantin, une lampe en bronze dont le réflecteur a la forme d'un chandelier à sept branches et une statuette en ivoire figurant le Bon Pasteur. Le christianisme fait son apparition en Tingitane, vers la fin du III- s. et, ici comme ailleurs, marque la fin de la société antique. La plus connue des tribus de Berbères christianises est celle des Baquets dont les descendants conserveront leur religion et la langue latine jusque vers la fin du VIIIe s. Archéologie islamique. Après une vitrine consacrée aux monnaies, dont la frappe commence avec l'islamisation, la section consacrée il l'archéologie islamique présente les principaux sites récemment fouilles: Sijilmassa, ville fondée au VIIIe s., ou l'on a repère des ateliers de potiers; Belyounech, « campagne» de la ville de Sebta (Ceuta), ou un palais, des maisons et des installations hydrauliques ont été fouillés; Ksar es Séghir et Chichaoua, important centre de l'industrie du sucre du Maroc médiéval dont on verra une jolie collection de moules à pain de sucre. Salle des bronzes. Elle abrite la collection des grands bronzes antiques provenant pour la plupart de Volubilis, ainsi que la statuaire de marbre de Volubilis, Banasa, Thamusida, Sala. L'Ephèbe versant il boire, découvert en 1929, est la réplique, probablement romaine (grecque d'après R. Châtelain), d'une œuvre de Praxitèle. Bien que légèrement empâtée et comportant quelques petites erreurs anatomiques (les hanches, notamment, sont dissemblables), cette statue évoque, par son maintien les Satyres verseurs de Praxitèle, à ceci près, qu'elle n'en porte aucune des trace d'animalité (oreilles pointues, amorce de queue, etc.). Le Chien de Volubilis , trouvé en 1916, est la première en date des œuvres importantes découvertes sur le site. On le date du règne d'Hadri (début du Ile s.). Il rappelle par son attitude le chien de la mosaïque (Cave canem) de la Maison du Poète tragique à Pompéi. La position de son arrière-train permet de supposer qu' ornait une fontaine dans quelque riche demeure. L'Ephèbe couronne de lierre sans conteste l'œuvre majeure de musée. J. Carcopino lui trouvait « souplesse de Praxitèle, l'expression Lysippe, le puissant modelé de Polyclète ». Sa position indique qu'il tenait probablement un flambeau dans sa main gauche. Ce type d'éphèbe dit «lampadophore» commença à se développer à partir du 1er s. de notre ère, sous le règne d'Auguste, où 1'on assista à un retour vers un classicisme des formes. Deux pièces découvertes dans la mai son dite de Vénus il Volubilis retiennent l'attention: Le buste de Caton d'Utique est d 1er s., donc nettement postérieur à sa mort. Arrière petit fils de Caton l'Ancien, Caton d'Utique vécut de 95 il av. J.-C. Ce fervent républicain prit parti de Pompée contre César. Après la défaite de Pharsale (48) et la mort de son champion, Caton dirigea 1 parti pompéien. En 46, César, débarqué en Afrique du Nord, mit en déroute les dernières armées rebelles la bataille de Thapsus. Apprenant 1a nouvelle dans la ville d'Utique (au N de Tunis), Caton préféra se suicide plutôt que de tomber vivant entre le mains de son ennemi. Ce superbe bronze, dans un excellent état de conservation - il ne manque que les globes oculaires , traduit bien 1a fermeté de caractère de celui que 1'0n appela «le dernier rempart de 1 République ».