The Changing Face of Morocco under King Hassan II

The Hassan II Mosque, in Casablanca, Morocco (completed 1993), is well known for its size, historic appearance, and cutting-edge technologies. While the mosque clearly symbolizes Islam and Morocco, scholars have argued that it was also designed to support the legitimacy of the monarch who built it and gave it his name: King Hassan II. While the mosque’s significance has been examined, its context within Hassan’s decades-long building program has received little attention. It is argued here that the mosque’s historic appearance, although not surprising, was not a given but rather the result of an ever-increasing dependence on Moroccan craft as a way to shape Moroccan identity