Mohammed V Square
{{short description|Public square in Casablanca}}
{{Infobox urban feature
| name = Mohammed V Square
| native_name =ساحة محمد الخامس
| native_name_lang =ar
| place_type =Town square
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| nickname =Pigeon Square
({{Lang|ar|ساحة الحمام}})
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| image_place =File:Площадь Мухаммеда V.jpg
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| image_caption = Mohammed V Square looking toward the Court of First Instance
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Mohammed V Square ({{Langx|ar|ساحة محمد الخامس}}) is a public square of historical and symbolic significance located in central Casablanca, Morocco. It was established in 1916 at the beginning of the French protectorate in Morocco under Resident-general Hubert Lyautey, on a design by architects Henri Prost and {{ill|Joseph Marrast|fr}}.{{Cite web|url=http://www.journeesdupatrimoine.ma:80/parcours/place-mohammed-v|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402065133/http://www.journeesdupatrimoine.ma/parcours/place-mohammed-v|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-04-02|title=Les journées du patrimoine : Circuit Place Mohammed V|date=2016-04-02|access-date=2019-09-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.batuta.com/2156/%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B3|title=ميدان محمد الخامس|website=www.batuta.com|language=ar|access-date=2019-09-19}}
Name
The square is known officially as Mohammed V Square, in honor of the former king of Morocco Mohammed V. The square is known popularly as "Pigeons' Square" ({{Lang|ar|ساحة الحمام}}, {{langx|fr|place aux pigeons}}) due to the heavy presence of those birds.{{Cite web|url=http://aawsat.com:80/home/article/69196|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515221418/http://aawsat.com/home/article/69196|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-05-15|title=ساحة "الحمام" في الدار البيضاء.. مَعْلم تاريخي بتصميم أوروبي {{!}} الشرق الأوسط|date=2017-05-15|access-date=2019-09-19}} It used to be known by different names such as Main Square ({{langx|fr|grande place}}), Square of France ({{langx|fr|place de France}}), Victory Square ({{langx|fr|place de la Victoire}}), Administrative Square ({{langx|fr|place administrative}}), and Marshal Lyautey Square ({{langx|fr|place du Maréchal Lyautey}}).
History
File:Henri_Prost,_preliminary_sketch_of_the_Place_Administrative,_November_1914.jpg's preliminary sketch of the ''Place
Administrative'', November 1914{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Jean-Louis|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49225856|title=Casablanca : colonial myths and architectural ventures|date=2002|others=Monique Eleb|isbn=1-58093-087-5|location=New York|oclc=49225856}}]]
File:Joseph_Marrast,_general_plan_for_the_Place_Administrative_1920.jpg
The area south of the Medina quarter that is now Mohammed V Square had been occupied by barracks of the French colonial forces before the plan of Henri Prost and {{ill|Joseph Marrast|fr}} to establish a large square there was implemented in 1916. It became the heart of the expanding "European city" ({{Lang|fr|ville européenne}}) or modern expansion of Casablanca. Resident-general Hubert Lyautey, who was from Nancy, France, had that city's 18th-century Place Stanislas serve as inspiration for Prost's urban design.
Buildings were erected around the square in the 1920s and 1930s, generally in the Moorish Revival architecture style championed by Henri Prost and his contemporaries. This style combined French design principles with traditional Mauro-Andalusian architectural traditions, which lent the colonial administrative buildings legitimacy. Clockwise from the square's eastern side:
- Court House ({{Lang|ar|المحكمة}}, {{Lang|fr|tribunal de première instance}}), architect {{ill|Joseph Marrast|fr}}, 1923 {{R|booklet|page=85}}
- {{lang|fr|Place d'Armes de Casablanca}} (former Military Circle, repurposed in 1956), architect Marius Boyer, 1925 {{citation |title=Guide des architectures du XXe siècle de Casablanca |author=casamémoire |publisher=Revue maure |location=Casablanca |date=2013}}{{rp|84}}
- Bank Al-Maghrib ({{Lang|ar|بنك المغرب}}, formerly the State Bank of Morocco's Casablanca branch), architect Edmond Brion, 1937 {{R|booklet|page=48}}
- Central Post Office ({{Lang|ar|مكتب البريد}}, {{Lang|fr|Grande Poste}}), architect Adrien Laforgue, 1920 {{R|booklet|page=49}}
- Wilaya Building ({{Lang|ar|مقر الولاية}}, formerly City Hall), architect Marius Boyer, 1937 {{R|booklet|page=58}}
- French consulate-general (former Military Commander's Mansion, repurposed in 1956), architect Albert Laprade, 1922 {{R|booklet|page=57}}{{cite web |website=Consulat général de France à Casablanca |title=Histoire du Consulat |url=https://ma.consulfrance.org/Histoire-du-Consulat-2843 |date={{date|2015/06/10}}}}
File:ETH-BIB-Casablanca,_Palais_de_Justice-Dia_247-09071.tif
On August 8, 1943, Charles de Gaulle, accompanied by General Georges Catroux, commissary of the Coordination of Muslim Affairs and governor general of Algeria, and Gabriel Puaux, resident general of France in Morocco, delivered a speech from the square, which was also broadcast by radio.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Discours prononcé à Casablanca (Place Lyautey), 8 août 1943|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Discours-prononc%C3%A9-%C3%A0-Casablanca.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=charles-de-gaulle.org}}{{Cite web|date=1943-08-08|title=Le Petit Marocain|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4693422m|access-date=2020-06-21|website=Gallica|language=EN}}
The square was further transformed in 2020 with the construction on its western side of the Grand Theatre ({{langx|fr|Grand Théâtre de Casablanca}}), designed by architect Christian de Portzamparc. On that occasion the square was entirely renovated and repaved.
Monuments and fountain
File:Senlis Landowski.jpg, re-erected in 1965 in Senlis]]
File:Lyautey.jpg, before relocation on the grounds of the French consulate]]
During the colonial era, the square was punctuated by two major works of public sculpture: on the eastern end, the Monument aux Morts, officially named {{lang|fr|monument à la victoire et à la paix}}, sculpted by Paul Landowski and inaugurated by Resident-general Lyautey on {{date|1924/07/20}};{{citation |title=Le Monument à la Victoire et à la Paix de Paul Landowski. Une découverte récente à Casablanca |author1=Nicolas Alexandre |author2=Emmanuel Neiger |journal=In Situ: Revue des patrimoines |volume=25 |date=2014 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/11360}} and further west in front of the courthouse, the equestrian statue of Hubert Lyautey by François Cogné, inaugurated in 1938. The former was relocated to France in 1961 and reerected in 1965 as the {{lang|fr|{{ill|monument de la fraternité franco-marocaine|fr}}}} in Senlis; the latter was moved at the time of independence to French ground in the front yard of the nearby {{lang|fr|hôtel de la Subdivision militaire}}, which in 1959 became the French Consulate-general.{{Cite web|title=Histoire du Consulat|url=https://ma.consulfrance.org/Histoire-du-Consulat-2843|access-date=2020-03-19|website=Les Consulats Généraux de France au Maroc|language=fr}}
In 1976, a large circular fountain, also known as the “pigeons’ fountain” ({{langx|fr|fontaine aux pigeons}}), was erected at the center of the square, west of Hassan II Avenue. In 2020 with the construction of the Grand Theater on the square's western end, the much-liked fountain was relocated to the other side of the avenue, close to the original position of the Lyautey statue.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Place Mohammed V, Casablanca}}
Category:History of Casablanca
Category:Buildings and structures in Casablanca