Hassan Tower - Morocco

 One last card bought at the book fair but not the only one I got from Morocco. 

This beautiful tower is Hassan's Tower, one of Rabat’s great landmarks. It has been included as part of the Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

 It was part of a colossal architectural project, surrounded by gardens, commissioned by Sultan Ya’qub al-Mansur in the 12th century near the estuary of the Bou Regreg River. The building was originally intended to be part of what was to be the second-largest mosque in the world after the Samarra Mosque in Iraq. However, the sultan died before seeing his pharaonic work completed, and in 1755 an earthquake destroyed everything that had been built. Today, only the monumental Hassan Tower and the architectural structure of the planned mosque remain as a testament to the grandeur of al-Mansur’s dream in 1195. Some say that the sultan intended to make Rabat his new imperial capital, as the great mosque of which the tower formed part was out of proportion to the sparse population of Rabat at the time. Others say that it was merely intended to rival the magnificent Mosque of Córdoba, the former capital of the Islamic kingdom in the West. - in: https://www.barcelo.com