Mouassine is a district within the Medina of

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

neighbouring the districts of Bab Doukkala, Azbezt, Derb Tizougarine and Riad Aitoun El Kedim. The area contains the Mouassine Mosque, the Mouassine Fountain (part of the mosque complex), and the

Dar el Bacha Dar el Bacha () is a palace located in the old medina of Marrakesh, Morocco. History Built in 1910, the Dar el Bacha, which means "house of the pasha", was the residence of Thami El Glaoui, who was given the title of pasha (roughly "governor" o ...

Palace. The area acts as one of the main gateways to the souks and is a relatively affluent area of the

medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

(old city).

Name

Like the name

which is derived from the Tamazight language to mean the land of God the name for the district of Mouassine is likely to have Tamazight origins but the meaning is unclear. In the 1930s the district had a spelling that was closer to the phonetic sound and was written Mwasin. When the city of

was established in 1061 the district was known as Houmat Abi Abidan but during

’s renaissance in the 16th century under its

Saadian The Saadi Sultanate (also rendered in English as Sa'di, Sa'did, Sa'dian, or Saadian; ar, السعديون, translit=as-saʿdiyyūn) was a state which ruled present-day Morocco and parts of West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was l ...

rulers the name changed to Mouassine.

History

Up until the reign of Abdellah El Ghalib

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

were relatively dispersed through the city but the area of Mouassine housed a significant concentration of them and was generally regarded as an ancient Jewish quarter. When Abdallah El Ghalib came to power in 1557 he used the opportunity to re-landscape Marrakech as a symbol of his authority and part of this was to relocate the Jewish community into the new Mellah area. Up until this massive re-landscaping Mouassine was regarded as one of the two ancient Jewish areas. The most famous landmark in Mouassine is the Mouassine Mosque commissioned by Sultan Abdellah. The construction of the mosque was part of a major redevelopment of the area and was located upon the site of a former Jewish cemetery. The mosque, also known as ''Jami' al-Ashraf'' is part of a larger complex that includes a library, hamman, madrasa and the famous Mouassine Fountain, one of the most famous in the medina. The current configuration of Mouassine thus dates back to the

period, and its redevelopment at this time enticed a relatively large number of

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

or aristocratic families to build their residences here. This has resulted in a concentration of structures dating from the Saadian period located in this area, with examples of Saadian-era houses including the

Dar Cherifa Dar Cherifa, historically known as Dar Ijimi, is a late 16th-century house in the Medina quarter, medina (old city) of Marrakesh, Morocco. It is located in the Mouassine, Mouassine neighbourhood and is one of the few well-preserved houses from the ...

(formerly Dar Ijimi), the Dar al-Mas'udiyyin, and the Dar al-Masluhiyyin (known also as Ksour Agafay). Some of these houses today have been converted into cafés, restaurants, and hotels. Also notable is the ''douiria'' (an upper-floor apartment for receiving guests) in what is now the Mouassine Museum. This house, recently restored to reveal its original wood and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ornamentation, dates back to the Saadian period but also features decorative motifs from the time of Sultan Moulay Ismail (1672–1727).

Economy

Mouassine is one of the most upmarket areas of the Medina containing a number of the highest rated riads in the whole of Morocco. Riad Snan 13, Dar Mo’da, Riad Al-Bushra, Riad El-Zohar, and Riad L’Orangerie were all in Trip Advisor’s top 25 in 2014.Trip Advisor Traveller’s Choice Awards http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Hotels-cInnsBB-g293730 retrieved 11 September 2015/ Additionally there are a number of stores that offer top quality Moroccan produce and export their produce around the world. La Maison du Kaftan Marocain, Maktoub, Kif Kif, and Kulchi all have their home in Mouassine. The area seems to successfully fuse the traditional with the contemporary and remains an important gateway to the souks.

References

{{Coord missing, Morocco Neighborhoods of Marrakesh