«Only the loss of human beings grieves me. The collapsed walls will be rebuilt». If the premonitory words of the Nass El Ghiwane musical band perfectly illustrate the tragedy Morocco has been living through since Friday, September 08, 2023.
There are walls that carry within them the memory of an entire people, rare witnesses to a thousand-year-old culture and medieval Morocco, remnant of an empire stretching from Spain to the borders of Mali. Such is the case of the Tinmel Mosque, a masterpiece of 12th-century Almohad architecture, listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Ten centuries of history have been swept away by the powerful earthquake, whose epicenter was in the region. Ironically, the earthquake destroyed decades of conservation work. A program to restore the Mosque had been initiated by the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture. «The restoration project was well advanced and 90% complete. Today, it’s all on the ground» laments Abderrahim Kassou, whom we were able to contact on site, is an architect and member of the Architecture and Development association and of Icomos Maroc, an international non-governmental organization working for the conservation of monuments and sites worldwide. Still in a state of shock, the architect says that «The roads are not yet clear, there are still landslides making it extremely difficult to get help through. … For the moment, the most urgent need is to help the victims.
The first aid supplies are just starting to arrive, but there are still many needs: first-aid medicines, and tents for the homeless, especially as it will soon be cold in the region and people don’t dare return to their homes, and rightly so, fearing that their houses will collapse «. For Kassou, a precise diagnosis of the damage to the Mosque will have to wait, especially as many of the surrounding historic villages have been destroyed, such as the Kasbah of Caïd El Goundafi. The architect is keen to point out, however, that « many buildings based on traditional architecture have stood up better than more recent concrete constructions, and there are lessons to be learned about the importance of preserving vernacular housing techniques», explains Abderrahim Kassou. For the time being, it would be premature to speak of a project to rebuild or rehabilitate the monument, but the architects who worked on its restoration have done a remarkable job. The studies, analyses, plans, and other reports they have produced will undoubtedly facilitate a rehabilitation project that is already proving to be highly complex.
Characteristics of a masterpiece
It was to honor sultan Ibn Toumert, buried in Tinmel, that Sultan Abd-el-Moumen had the Tinmel Mosque built in 1153. The Tinmel Mosque covers an almost square area, 48.10 m long and 43.60 m deep. Access is via six side doors, four of which open onto the prayer room and two onto the courtyard. The prayer hall is divided into nine longitudinal aisles that open perpendicularly into a transept aisle.
This is the archetypal mosque of the Almohad dynasty, whose model would spread throughout the Maghreb over the following centuries. This mosque was built according to a Maghrebian Andalusian process that combines the refinement of architectural tradition with local construction techniques. The Tinmel mosque will serve as a benchmark for the majority of Moroccan mosques. Its structure, layout, proportions, and decoration make it a fundamental masterpiece of Almohad art.
The balance of volumes is mathematically calculated according to a modulus present down to the smallest details (decoration, aesthetic harmony), and proportions are perfect thanks to the rigorous arrangement of all elements (structures and decorations). Everything converges on the «mihrab», the central and most noble element of the building.
A.BO
