HASSAN RADOINE_text

From Madina to Makina
Modernizing an Islamic City,
Fez
Hassan Radoine, Ph.D.
The madina, as an urban compound, had known many structural transformations before
the French colonization. Although colonial policies are always vehemently criticized
regarding their urban interventions—conservation or alteration—in the madina,
researchers have unquestionably overlooked the endeavors of the Moroccan elite that
participated widely in its early modernization. This elite attempted to emulate the
nineteenth-century progressive European urbanization as well as to present an image of
a competing Moroccan city, while the whole country was under political and social
unrest.
Being at the gate of the European territory, the Moroccan elite and officials had an early
exposure to the ideas of progress. Moroccan scholars, who traveled to Europe in the
nineteenth century, noticed the advancement of European cities whereas theirs were
under incessant urban breakdown. As an instance, Shaykh al-Saffar, who traveled to
France between 1845 and 1846 C.E., on a diplomatic mission, left outstanding diaries.1
He witnessed industrialization and progress: railways, factories, bridges, road systems,
military advancement, public administration, financial resources, tax management, and
city planning. In terms of planning, he stated: “They [the French] construct their things
on a solid basis, and they prepare for issues before their occurrence. No one knows the
truth of that but the one who witnesses it.”2 He described Paris’ cultural, administrative,
and urban facets in detail. His fascination, with its organization, infrastructure, urban
facilities, commercial, and scientific activities, was exceptional. He grasped the meaning
of a growing metropolis, and used his own cultural expressions to portray its progress.3
Al-Saffar, in his Rihla, longed to see what he believed to be technological and scientific
development occurs in his native land.4
At the end of the eighteenth century, the challenge of modernizing the Moroccan cities
was prompted by Muhammad III (1757-1790).5 Muhammad III solicited European
architects for planning his selected cities. The French architect Théodore Cornut was
designated to plan Essaouira, and Paol, an architect of unknown nationality, to plan
Rabat.6 Théodore Cornut7 molded the madina of Essaouira after the French SaintMalo,8 as a rectangle with four gates. Cournut was inspired by different architectural
sources: Moroccan, Iberian, Moorish, and Baroque. He succeeded remarkably in
melding all into one typical and unique model for Essaouira. When established,
Mohammed III ordered the community of Fez to inhabit its madina,9 in order to develop
its crafts and social pattern.
1
These are examples of European architects who were enlisted under the auspices of a
Moroccan king. It is a key argument on how ‘modernization’ did not come only with the
Spanish and French colonization, but rather was also sought by the Moroccan elite.
Modernizing Fez-madina before the French Protectorate
Sahat al-Makina in 1912
(Source: Author’s collection of Fez archive postcards)
The nineteenth-century national bourgeoisie of protégés10 participated widely with their
European protectors in launching a new coastal urbanization in Morocco in cities such
as Casablanca, Mazagan, Larache, and Safi. This new urbanization consisted mainly of
creating a kind of free urban zones outside the confines of the old madina. These
Morocccan protégés were eager to transfer this urbanization to their home cities such
as Fez, Meknès, Rabat, and Salé. They erected, based on a new urban layout, new
palaces and mansions inside and outside the walls of the madina. This trend was also
pursued by the powerful Makhzan figures such as qayids and viziers.11
In the case of Fez, a district reflected this prevalent modernization (sense of
monumentality and opening up the madina). Today this district, named Layun, is
noticeable on the map of the madina, and it is situated in its south-west.12 Layun's
district consists of large and rectilinear thoroughfares with typically regular building
plots. It is also characterized with extrovert facades with outside windows, and interiors
with imported European craftworks.13 Layun’s residential complexes, which were
erected in the middle of large meadows, created a sense of a peripheral bourgeois’
neighborhood. Some of these palaces belonged to officials. This new district initiated a
major urban change of the madina, which was followed by the French through the
adjacent neo-traditional14 districts of Batha and Ziyat.
2
The example of Layun was arguably concomitant to the strategic planning of sultan
Mulay al-Hasan, who connected the royal city of Fas-al-Jadid with Fas-al-Bali through
walled boulevards.15 The two walled cities had always been separated from each other.
The first represented the Makhzan domain, and the second represented the people’s
territory. Nonetheless, Mulay al-Hasan attempted to unify the city of Fez, as many of his
predecessors did, by joining its different parts.16 This transformation came with new
spatial ideas, and it was marked with the construction of the makina building.
Location of the Makina complex in the Madina
(Source: GIS, ADER-Fes)
3
1. Makina (Manufactory building) 2. Sahat Bab Makina or al-Meshwar Kabir
(Plaza) 3. Gate complex 4. Gate complex
5. Sahat Mulay al-Hassan or
Meshwar Saghir 6. Garden 7. Lahbiyil, a walled zone 8. Vacant green zone
outside the walls
(Source: GIS, ADER-Fes)
The term makina derived from Latin in particular the Italian language word, macchina
(the machine). It was also called in Moroccan dialect the fabriqa, which was derived
from the Italian language word: fabbrica (the factory). Both names were certainly
learned from the Italian administrative and technical delegation that initiated this
grandiose project in 1888. This delegation was royally received by the officials of the
Moroccan Makhzan. In 1889, Mulay al-Hasan enlisted an Italian architect, named
Georgio Bregoli, to design the makina.17
This first kind of industrial unit was unprecedented in terms of organization of work and
recruitment of first Moroccan graduates from Europe.18 It differed from the traditional
craft production with its new spatial arrangement, large number of workers, and size of
production. During the construction and the design of the makina building, four young
Moroccans were assisting the Italian team with translation as well as the assimilation of
the design process. The construction was achieved with the help of Moroccan
craftsmen and master-builders. This was undoubtedly an innovative ground for them to
learn about the implementation of a foreign design.
After the implementation of the makina in 1893, a Moroccan team of trustees from Fez
was assigned the duty of running the factory such as paying employees and providing
raw materials. Among these trustees was Ben Thami Bennani. The makina fabricated
hundreds of weapons and thousands of munitions. Its work ended definitely around
1910. In addition to making arms, the makina building encompassed a pavilion for
minting Moroccan coins by the Italian delegation.
4
Makina Building Interior in 1914
Source: Author’s Collection of Fez Archive Postcards
The complex of makina, and its surrounding urban renewal works in Fas-al-Jadid, was
contiguous to the new residential districts of the growing bourgeoisie of merchants and
notables in Fas-al-Bali. These strategic changes in the Islamic city of Fez were also
concomitant to an exchange of arts between Morocco and Europe. This exchange was
enhanced with the participation of Morocco in three Universal Exhibitions in Europe.
The first was in the second Paris Exhibition in 1867. The second was in the third Paris
Exhibition in 1878. The third was in the fourth Paris Exhibition in 1889. Undoubtedly,
these events influenced the architecture and planning practices in Morocco. European
architectural ideas started to permeate into interior design of houses and palaces: the
Muqri’s palace is a quintessential example.
Moreover, the encounter and fascination with Moroccan house style and craftsmanship
in Paris Exhibitions made Moroccan houses a source of attraction for tourists and
artists. Unquestionably, Moroccan artisans and merchants, who traveled or participated
in these Exhibitions, were attracted in their turn by European architectural models. This
was witnessed by the mutation of the Moroccan artisanat to espouse new forms and
motives borrowed from Europe. This tendency of modernization of artisanat was
pursued and magnified by the Protectorate.
Makina’s Urban and Architectural Novelty
The location of the makina is very strategic in the madina of Fez. Being in the vicinity of
one of the oldest royal palaces (Marinid dynasty, the second half of 13th century), the
5
Makina complex is majestic with its monumental ramparts and Moroccan-Andalusian
arched gates. It reflects unrivaled architectural, urban, and environmental qualities. The
environmental resides in the crossing of the wad (river) of Fez, and its green banks,
which formed a splendid garden totally framed by walls in the backyard of the makina.
This backyard was an outside Marinid garden called Jnane Me
ra, which was
watered through a sophisticated water system with a nuriya. Another garden connected
to the makina’s site through the same river and a chain of walls is that of the historic
Jnane Sabil (the only public Andalusian garden in Fez), and covers an area of 5
hectares.
On the urban level, the whole complex of makina is connected to the district of Fes alJadid (Marinid historic city) through the Bab (gate) Dekaken (shops) or Bab A’ssebae
(lion). The architectural level reflected an early concern of linking the infrastructure of
the city and the buildings. It is an intricate urban fabric that combines meticulously the
commercial, the residential, and the royal court. However, these elements were all part
of the dense urban fabric of the madina that followed the twisty and narrow streets
pattern.
Inscription on Bab Sbaa (Gate of the Lion)
A poem dedicated to Mulay al-Hassan and his army
to celebrate the building of the lion arched gate with date information
(Source: ADER-Fez Archive of Drawings)
What was novel about makina’s urban and architectural complex?
Moulay al-Hassan brought a new urban scale to the madina of Fez. He erected a series
of boulevards that unite the Fes al-Jadid, the royal palace, and the old Fez. He
structured these boulevards with monumental city-walls pierced by multiple gateways.
This new layout and combination between walls and wide thoroughfares gives a strong
sense of directionality, which is unprecedented in the history of Fez. This change in the
body of the compact urban fabric of the madina is, thus, very noticeable. It could be
compared to the Shah Abagh and the maydan added to the seventeen-century Isfahan
by Abbas I, which were assessed by the European travelers of the time as a major
modernization of an Islamic city.19
6
The first framed boulevard was that of the mishwar20 assaghir, which is juxtaposed to
the gate of the palace. It is a transition traffic area that serves eight gates, and it is
strikingly built above the river as a continuous unseen bridge. Three of these gates lead
to the mishwar kabir where the building of the makina exists. The mishwar kabir is
avant-gardist in terms of its monumental size and urban design. Its long rectangular
shape enhances the argument of a European boulevard, and reflects the influence of
the Italian architect Bregoli. Its unfamiliar shape and size to the madina of Fez was
meant to create a monumental square for the exits and the Italian classical styled main
door of the makina building. This square is named after the makina, and thus it is called
sahat bab makina. It is also named sahat Mulay al-Hasan after the name of its founder.
General view of Sahat al-Makina or Mishwar Kabir (Grand Plaza)
(Source: Author’s photo)
The sahat bab makina is equipped with high-elevated watchtowers, which overlook the
whole building and site of the makina. The site of the factory of weapons and coins was,
most likely, intensely guarded. Therefore, the security feature was carefully
implemented without jeopardizing the beauty of the site. In terms of military and security
symbolism, the main gate of the makina gives an unusual impression for its beholder. It
is very atypical in comparison with the conventional gates of the madina, and creates an
awe effect to its very European style and decoration. It is ornamented with two strange
symmetrical metallic vertical arrows, which stem out of two metallic balls. Its massive
Roman arched door, in masonry, decorated with non arabesque geometric patterns is
also eccentric.
7
Main gate of the Makina building
(Source: Author’s photo)
The main building of the makina is the second largest covered construction in the
madina of Fez after the congregational mosque of Quarawiyyin. It encompasses 487
interlaced and perpendicular arches, with the largest span ever between pillars in its
time. The height of the building and its plan disposition reflects surely a new kind of
building in Fez. Yet, it gives an image of colonnades of a giant mosque—since the body
of the mosque and the palace in an Islamic city was always a subject of expansion and
monumentalization as well as the places where pioneering engineering ideas were
forged. Gregori’s genius was to work closely with Moroccan master-builders, and to
generate a hybrid building that uses the Italian classical architecture in a subtle manner.
Therefore, there are corners or details in the building that reveal more Gregori’s
elements of design.
Monumental interior arches of the Makina building
(Source: Author’s photo)
8
In the immense space of the mishwar Kabir (sahat Mulay al-Hasan), Gregori did not
express strenuously the European architectural vocabulary expect for the main gate of
the makina. Although he decorated this gate with very noticeable foreign architectural
details, he contoured it with two very Moorish slim towers that are crowned with two tiled
pyramidal pitched roofs. The very expressive Italian design elements are, nevertheless,
more apparent in the backyard of the building of the makina. The façade is highly
geometrical with a top belt that is decorated with series of circular openings. The gates
are of semi-circular arches, and juxtaposed to a chimney. The most important design
feature though is the landscape treatment of the banks of the river vis-à-vis the
backyard façade. A series of classical Italian balustrades built in bricks is separating the
façade from the river bed. The link between the backyard main gate, and the other side
of the green terrain, which is leading to the district of Mulay ‘Abdullah, is assured
through a bridge with the same balustrade style.
The European facade and landscape in the back of the Makina building in 1914
Source: Author’s Collection of Fez Archive Postcards
The roof of the whole makina is not following the vaulted pitched roof system with timber
known in the madina of Fez for big monuments, but rather consisted of single sloped
panels, which are spanning the colonnades, as in manufactories. Three arched small
windows of different sizes are added to the top of the giant interior arches, and create a
sense of transparency and lightness to the massive structure. The machinery parts
used in the makina was built in the structure of the building. It is very novel to witness
the insertion of equipments of a European like manufactory to the body of a building that
was still embodying the symbolism of a local architecture.
9
Remains of machines used in the makina building during the protectorate
(Source: Author’s photo)
The makina complex represents indeed an early concern of the Moroccan monarchy
and elite for applying progressive ideas in order to modernize the body of the madina. It
is a transformation of the madina through the makina (the machine).
Sahat al-Makina refurbished for the World Festival of Sacred Music.
(Source: Author’s photo)
10
1
He was al-Faqih Sayyid Muhammad Abd Allah al-Saffar. He traveled with the Moroccan ambassador
Abd al-Qādir al-Ash’āsh in a diplomatic mission to France, as his writer. Al-Saffar became after his Rihla,
travel, a minister for three kings.
Shaykh Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-Saffar, Al-Rihla al-Titwaniyya ila al-Diyyar al-Faransyya (1845-1846),
Edited by Ummu Salma (Tetouan, Matba’at al-‘addad Yusuf Ikhwan, 1995), pp. 33-34
2
Ibid., p. 55
3
“This city is special for its people. In comparison with other cities in their land, it is like our Sūq…we
heard from one of its inhabitants that its population is one million…and the banks of this river [la Seine]
are constructed out with carved stones and big rocks. The buildings are raised almost half a fathom from
the level of the river to that of the street. On these banks there are wide avenues with houses and shops
on their sides. The windows of these houses overlook the river. All the streets of this city are covered with
carved stones in the middle, and their sides are even. The middle is used for carriages and the sides for
pedestrians. Its avenues are all wide and open to the air. They are not covered with rushan [awnings] and
Sabat [constructions over streets] because houses get their light through windows opened into the
street…In total, all French cities and places we have seen in comparison with Paris are but its hamlets.”
Ibid., pp. 57-65 (my translation from Arabic)
4
Ummu Salma wrote in the introduction of the Rihla: “When Europe was going under rapid progress with
colonization ends, Morocco was following the seclusion policy, setting a solid veil in between its internal
land and exterior world. In particular, after the fall of Algeria under the power of France in 1830, and
Tunisia in 1881, Morocco became absent from the scene of progress, yet its reliable connections with it.
The confrontation in between Moroccan and French armies in Isli battle (1814) ended with the defeat of
Morocco. This defeat’s main causes were the decline, underdevelopment, incapacity, and disorder, which
were reining all equipments of Moroccan state. After this defeat, France inaugurated its enemy policy
against Morocco by attacking with its Maritime squadron Tangier, and destroyed its facilities to the ground
without facing any defense. Under these occurrences, the embassy of al-Qayīd Abd al-Qādīr al Ash’āsh
went to France in company of the writer Muhammad al-Saffar…”
Ibid., pp. 32-33 (my translation from Arabic)
5
Mohammad b. Abd as-Salam ad-Du’ayyif, Tarikh ad-Du’ayyif (Tarikh ad-Dawla as-Sa’diyya), Tahqiq
Ahmed al-Ammari (Rabat: Dar al-Ma’thurat, 1986)
Du’ayyif reported the many changes were pursued by Muhammad III (1757-1790) in order to modernize
Moroccan cities.
6
Ibid., p. 177
7
“For organizing and managing the construction of the city [Mogador], Sidi Mohammed had chosen a
Frenchman, the Avignonian [Avignon city in France] Cournut, who was the draftsman of Roussillon’s
fortifications. Cournut turned to be a remarkable urbanist and architect of value…”
Henri Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc: des Origines à l’Etablissement du Protectorat Français, Volume 2
(Casablanca : Editions Atlantides, 1950), p. 298 (my translation from French to English)
8
Hamza Ben Driss Ottmani, Une Cité sous les Alizés, Mogador: Des Origines à 1939 (Rabat : El Maarif
al Jadida, 1997), p. 101
9
Du’ayyif informs about this phenomenon: “…the sultan ordered the construction of Essaouira. He
finished it, and ordered the community of Fez to inhabit it yearly by round: three hundred people from the
community of craftsmen of different types…the sultan came to Essaouira, brought to it Ulamā (scholars)
from the community of Fez and elsewhere, and he fortified it. He spent on its construction very large
sums of money…In the beginning of Dhu-al-Qi’da [lunar month] year 1179 [hijria], Saffar [the governor]
came [to Fez] with hundred marine soldiers in order to take the anqāth [architectural remains] of Fas-alJadid [The Marinid palace] to al-Arayish [Larache] and Essaouira…he ordered also the taking of the
anqāth of Meknès…”
10
“In the long term, the mercantile elite of the cities was to benefit from the foreign penetration; for the
present its members smarted under foreign competition and resented the fiscal advantages from which
they were excluded…”
11
Abdellah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib: An Interpretative Essay, Tanslated from the French by Ralph
Manhein (Princeton: Princeton University, 1977), p. 325
11
“For the wealthy in Moroccan society the recession of 1905-1907 was but a momentary
inconvenience…Wealthy officials continued to have richly ornamented palaces constructed, and the jobs
which were thereby provided helped, ironically, to alleviate the distress of the poor.”
Jacques, Berque, French North Africa: The Maghrib Between Two World Wars, Translated from French
by Jean Stewart (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1967), p. 91
12
A Moroccan colloquial term derived from the Arabic one: ‘uyun, which means “the springs.”
13
These imported works include chiseled marble of pillars-capitals, iron work of windows and staircases,
and stained glass.
14
Neo-Traditional means the modernization of the traditional by the French, by keeping the courtyards
and modernizing the facades and their streets. It is also important to notice that the French urban and
architectural concepts to be applied in major cities stemmed from their first designs and interactions with
the madina. The results in Algeria were catastrophic since the agenda was fully military, rather than
Morocco where pacification took many forms, viz. architecture and urbanization. In addition, the Jewish
Mellah was first to be modernized since the Jewish community was already well connected with Europe
through l'Alliance Israélite Universelle and formed the early protégés groups through trade with Europe.
15
Mulay al-Hasan was among the first sultans who believed in learning from the European progress.
Therefore, he sent first Moroccan groups of students to Europe in order to be trained in engineering and
the military. In addition, he relied on many Europeans experts to upgrade his army and design some key
architectural projects.
Mohamed el-Mannūni, Madhāhir yaqadat al-Maghib al-Hadith (Beirut: Dār ādir, 1999), V.I, p. 99
16
For instance, ‘adwat (district) al-Andalusiyin and ‘adwat al-Qarawiyyin, which were separate cities,
joined to form Fas-al-Bali (the Old Fas).
17
Al-Mannūni, op.cit., pp. 99-100
18
Ibid.
19
It is not clear if Abbas I was influenced by European or parks or it was his genuine innovation together
with his architects. From the plan, the maydan is an intrinsic space that is inserted in the body of the
madina of Isfahan, and it is most probably a local idea of urban transformation.
20
Al-mishwar means the way leading to the gate of a palace, and it is generally used for royal receptions
of diplomatic delegations or royal processions.
12