Al Mansour Ed-Dahbi: Investigation and revelation
Portuguese map, Dutch engraving, Moroccan manuscript: these three «unpublished documents» from the 16th and 17th centuries were used by Belkeziz father and daughter to investigate for two years, notably for a 3D reconstruction of the Palais El Badi’ in Marrakech. The aim was to «revive this virtually crumbling jewel» built in the 16th century.
The work of architect and urban planner Soad and her linguist father Mohamed Ben Abdeljalil Belkeziz resulted in a really historical REVELATION. The work has been condensed in a fine book entitled «Palaces and fortresses of Al-Mansur Ed-Dahbi», published by ID Territoires.
The twists and turns of this intellectual adventure, worthy of a novel, were recounted on February 22, 2024 under the dome of the Arab League Park in Casablanca, during a signature meeting with the author, Soad Belkeziz This was part of the «Jeudis du patrimoine» (Thursday Heritage Days) program organized by Casamémoire in partnership with the Architects Association, the Association of former Casablanca Alumni of the Greater Casablanca, and the «Association of the Greater Casablanca – Carrières centrales».
Where was the starting point? It was the discovery of a rare book by Abdelaziz El Fashtali entitled «Manahil Es-Safa», which disappeared from libraries throughout the first half of the 20th century, recounts Dr. Ahmed Chaouki Binebine in the preface to this beautiful book. A former university professor of literature, Binebine has been head of the Hassania Treasury at the Royal Palace in Rabat since 1994. Dr. Binebine has made available to researchers the two copies of the manuscript discovered in the 1960s at the Royal Library. Their author was a vizier in charge of the pen of the sultan of Al-Mansour Ed-Dahbi (1578-1603), poet and historian. Astrology, architecture, hydraulics, sociology… his work is incredibly rich. Both copies were illegible. «It took us a year to decipher 20 pages», said the non-Arabic-speaking researcher. Soad Belkeziz had to call on the originator of the manuscript. A scholar with 40 books to his credit, having integrated 50,000 words, including medical ones, into the Arabic language.
Then came the turn of cartography and engraving to better understand the history of the Saadian heritage, hence the combination of fieldwork and documents to track the entrance to the Palais El Badi’. In particular, Fashtali’s book enabled us to decipher the entrances and discover for the first time the 3-kilometer-long Annahr canal, a navigable waterway running from the Great Basin to the palace’s Kouba Khadra (Green Dome), reports the investigator. And then, to top it all, there are the baths, with their four entrances and hot and cold-water supplyv!
The use of Antonio De La Conceiçâo’s 1585 map and Adriaen Matham’s 1610 Dutch engraving brought the Saâdian vizier’s detailed descriptions to life in 3D. One of its grand buildings, Kouba Annasr (Dome of Victory), commemorates the Battle of the Three Kings, which put an end to the Portuguese invaders’ plans for Morocco in 1578.
Faiçal FAQUIHI
