MEKNES : the Ancient city

The city of Meknes is located in the north of the Kingdom, 140 kilometers east of the Moroccan capital Rabat, which is the capital of the Meknes Tafilalet which includes the mandate of the Meknes region of the eyebrow and labor and employment regions Ifrane and Khneifra and Rashidiyeh. A population of about one million Nsma.hzh region, which extends over an area of ​​79210 square Kelmtr any occupies about 11% of the total Moroccan territory. A variety of terrain and climate, and is home to this region in 1994, according to statistics: 73% of the total population of Morocco. The city of Meknes are divided into two parts, the new city and the old city and in the city of Meknes is located at the crossroads of trade routes that were linking several destinations, making it a transit zone and stability since the Old Testament, which gained great importance when successive rulers of Morocco

 Bab Mansour gate Bab Mansour El Aleuj glory was a late Sultan Moulay Ismail initiative (1672-1727). As he reigned fifty-five years, he had much to do, from a poor town. He saw large, planned and commanded far farm. His son Moulay Abdellah completed the famous door in 1732 and it continues to preside over the activity of Meknes from two hundred sixty seven. It still marks the boundary between the industrial city and the imperial vile, published by the fourth sultan of the Alawite dynasty, opening the square El Hedim (destruction), it has continued to study human agitation drained by two famous streets: the street and the street Rouamzine Dar Smen meknassis also familiar to the streets of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine and Rivoli for Paris.

Meknes is addressed by this place, these streets, this door, it is also left in these parts.

I keep you "my haughty" reflections singular. You're not a door nor a souk area. You are not a hole in a wall: a pierced that monitors campaign: a grant, traitor, standing at the corner of an alley; a neck that is padlocked to the first foucade of the crowd; bleeding in the fat of the wall that put city officials in an uproar; accidental landslide instinctively conquered by donkeys and mules, smug pacing a quick route between plots scraped by their master and bustle of the souk.

Bab er-Rih, Khédra Bab Bab Berdaïne, Bab el Khemis Tizani Bab Bab es-Siba, Bab Berrima, Bab ej-Jadid, Bab el-Kari, Bab Jamma en-Nour, Bab el-Zein Abidine, Bab el Mellah Bab el-Hdim ... A Meknes, each entry knows its duties and welcomes its privileges. Welcoming the stranger was a duty that many doors are competing.

 

"I am the door open to all peoples, whether in the West or East," proudly announces Bab el-Khémis in cursive on his glazed fronton.Toi. You throne on high ground where Moulay Ismail you wanted. You observe daily that extends from 1732 You flown for 26 decades crowds that move. You distract groups waving, noisy processions, rallies who watch the night around a lamp, a "FNAR" flickering blue dart or an acetylene lamp. Riders flock to offer you the serenades hennissantes days moussem: for pleasure, to argue the merits of a thoroughbred or to rejoice gold from a saddle that rutile in the sun.

Who enjoys Your Story? ° Who comes your mysteries? ° Who dips into the arcades of your epics? Three men knew secrets. Your saga, feverish first. Your future gnawing the second First, both public and Santon writer, knew the story and said the law. He squatted dice dawn one of your arches. To 10 hours, he unfolded a worn sofa at the foot of a column taken formerly by Mansour el-Aleuj to "Kfar Faraoun" or the ruins of el-Badi Palace in Marrakech, others. In choukara tired, he drew a grimoire and a reed that plunged into a greasy ink. He then threw some vocalizations, uttered a volley of proverbs and jokes reminded some of Joha. The public grievances soothed softly, ventured concessions and étayait his remarks by whole suras quoted memories. When a case was stopped, when a contract was signed & the Santon resumed the narrative interrupted by chicanery of some and the ranting of others. He then held an invisible fresco, "Your fresco".

Sultans and princes made ​​an entry. Moulay Ismail, Moulay Abdellah, Moulay Slimane Moulay Abderrahman, Moulay el-Hassan ... and even graceful ANNE MARIE BUMBLEBEE, Princess of Conti Santon asked why the "TEES Grand Merciful" mount "the path of true faith "

The other Santon, a "chouaf" was under your second arch, lost in dreams. On a fabric ageless, he stroked a layer of red earth. In the side of the hand, he accused the folds. He clawed at the mud three fingers nagging the surface of the index; counted the lines and compared the hollow, observed the field with his rants the attention of an astronomer to whom we submit a screenshot of a seen billions of light years away galaxy. The world was reflected for him in "ephemeral configurations, spellings and the meanders of sand." We followed his "manipulations" with derision. He breathed a deep sigh, walked an old blade above his head, demanded an enigmatic voice approval ancient spirits, then, wearily, smoothing the red earth in a sense, before the flatten the other.