United Nations Square ( ar, ساحة الأمم المتحدة, french: Place des Nations-Unies) is a

public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true square, geometric square, used for community gathe ...

in the center of

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. It has been central in the

history of Casablanca The history of the city of Casablanca in Morocco has been one of many political and cultural changes. At different times it has been governed by Berber, Roman, Arab, Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, and Moroccan regimes. It has had an importa ...

History

The area outside the walls of the old medina that is now United Nations Square, used to be the location of the ''Souq Kbir'' (), also referred to as , before

French colonization The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...

. In 1908, after the French bombardment and invasion of Casablanca, the French commander

Charles Martial Joseph Dessigny Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

ordered the construction of a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

in the area, which then took the name, ''Place de l'Horloge'', "Square of the Clock". The square was then named ''Place de France'', "Square of France," and the surrounding area was developed by a team of French architects and urban planners chosen by the French ''Résident général''

Hubert Lyautey Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in ...

and led by

Henri Prost Henri Prost (February 25, 1874 – July 16, 1959) was a French architect and urban planner. He was noted in particularly for his work in Morocco and Turkey, where he created a number of comprehensive city plans for Casablanca, Fes, Marrakesh ...

. The Magasins Paris-Maroc building (1914), constructed by

Hippolyte Delaporte Hippolyte-Joseph Delaporte was a French architect active in Morocco during the French Protectorate. He designed several buildings from the 1920s up to the 1950s, mainly in Casablanca. In 1952, he was in charge of architectural planning of the c ...

and

Auguste Perret Auguste Perret (12 February 1874 – 25 February 1954) was a French architect and a pioneer of the architectural use of reinforced concrete. His major works include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the first Art Deco building in Paris; the C ...

, was located at the southern end of . in 1915,

inaugurated the new Casablanca branch of the

State Bank of Morocco The State Bank of Morocco (french: Banque d'État du Maroc) was a quasi-central bank established in 1907 following the Algeciras Conference, to stabilize the Moroccan currency and serve as a vehicle for European and especially French influence ...

was inaugurated on the square's northeastern side. The

Hotel Excelsior Hotel Excelsior was a hotel in Berlin, Germany. It occupied number 112/113, Königgrätzer Straße (today's Stresemannstrasse) on Askanischer Platz in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. It was once one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in ...

, which remains today, was built in 1916. As the European ', or "new city," expended eastward of the square, the square evolved from a marketplace to a contact point between the European city and the Casablanca

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, ...

, which French colonists described as the "." Casablanca Tramway

The

was demolished in 1948, together with several of the square's buildings that stood on the way of the , created under the new urban planning proposed by

Michel Écochard Michel Écochard (11 March 1905 - 24 May 1985) was a French architect and urban planner. He played a large part in the urban planning of Casablanca from 1946 to 1952 during the French Protectorate, then in the French redevelopment of Damascu ...

. The square became a bus station for a period of time in the midcentury. A clock tower imitating the original's design was constructed a short distance closer to the medina in 1993. The architect

Jean-François Zevaco Jean-François Zevaco (,1916–2003) was a French-Moroccan architect born in Casablanca. He is considered an emblematic figure of the modernist architectural movement in Morocco and in Africa, and his legacy is important in terms of the number of ...

designed the ''Kora Ardia'' (), "Globe," in 1975. The Casablanca Tramway transformed the square. Work started in 2009, and the first line was inaugurated December 12, 2012.{{Cite web, url=https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/9428/inauguration-of-casablancas-first-tram-line-in-morocco/, title=Inauguration of Casablanca’s first tram line in Morocco, website=Intelligent Transport, language=en, access-date=2019-05-14

Access

The square is reachable by Line 1 of the Tramway, which stops at United Nations Square Station.

References

Casablanca All stub articles Coordinates on Wikidata Squares in Morocco

History

Access

See also

References