Casablanca
Casablanca is a modern city with a population of 3.7 million people. It is the largest one in Morocco and the commercial and business centre of the country. Although it is an old city, it is not a very interesting place to visit except for the site of the Hassan II Mosque (see below).
Hassan II Mosque
The Kingdom of Morocco is a constitutional monarchy where the king is recognized as the head of state, but with powers limited by a constitution. Hassan II was the king that ruled the country with an authoritarian hand from 1961 to 1999. He commissioned the construction of the mosque to honour its predecessor, King Mohammed V, his father.
This imposing temple is the second-largest mosque in Africa and its minaret is the second highest in the world at 210 metres; the equivalent of 60 storeys. Its construction started in 1989, and it was inaugurated on August 30, 1993. The massive ground can welcome some 105,000 worshippers; 80,000 on the ground and 25,000 inside the building.
Surprisingly, for a country whose wealth is not very high compared to rich countries, the cost of the mosque is estimated at 585 million euro (about 845 million Canadian dollars).
