Sunday, November 21, 2010

Morocco's architectural heritage: Photography exhibition



Did you know that Casablanca was the first city ever to be planned with the aid of aerial photographs?

French architect Henri Prost, engaged by Resident General Lyautey, is famous for his amazing Mauresque buildings in Casablanca (see our previous story here).


Casablanca in the 1920s

Now a new photography exhibition tracing the architectural heritage of Morocco will open its doors on 22 November and run until 21 December. Organised by the Euromed Heritage project, Mutual Heritage, it will be held at the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture in Rabat and will feature 20th century photos showing aerial views and buildings of Rabat, Casablanca and Fez.

Fez, 1912

The exhibition, entitled ‘Patrimoine partagé’ – a shared heritage – aims to contribute to a better knowledge and appreciation of this cultural heritage. It will also serve as a resource for heritage professionals and teachers.

“This exhibition will especially make accessible to the largest number of people all the richness of the recent architecture in Morocco, which is the product of inter-cultural exchanges and the sharing of various technical know-how,” said ENA Director El Montacir Bensaïd.

The ENA has some 85,000 images in its archives, some of which will be on show.

The Mutual Heritage project aims to enhance the appreciation of 19th and 20th century Mediterranean architectural heritage, the product of rich inter-cultural exchanges, sharing of technical know-how and the modernisation of the urban fabrics of the south Mediterranean, a local process compounded by external inputs from Ottoman and European colonisation.

Euromed Heritage is a €17 million EU-funded programme which contributes to the exchange of experiences on cultural heritage, creates networks and promotes cooperation with the Mediterranean Partner Countries.

2 comments:

Ebby said...

Hello, if somebody is interesting in historical pictures of Fez, take a look on my website: www.eberhard-hahne.de
In the article about former Fez photographers you find a link to Picasa, where you can see my collection of historic photographie of Fez regards ebby

Architectural Heritage Photography said...

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