Kasbah Mosque, Tangier
The Kasbah Mosque is a mosque in Tangier, Morocco, and the main mosque of the historic royal citadel in the old city of Tangier. It dates to the late 17th century.
History
The kasbah of Tangier was built right after the city was evacuated by the English in 1684 and reclaimed by Morocco. The sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail, supported the city's resettlement and commissioned its reconstruction, overseen by its new governor, Ali ibn Abdallah Errifi. As the English blew up the city's fortifications before leaving, the city's defenses had to be almost entirely rebuilt. One part of this reconstruction involved establishing the Moroccan government's seat of power in the city within a self-contained fortified district, the kasbah. This district had its own walls and included the Kasbah Palace with the governor's residence, a treasury, a courthouse, prisons, stables, residential quarters for the military, a parade ground or mechouar, and the mosque.The mosque of the kasbah of Tangier was thus built by Ali Errifi, under Moulay Ismail's reign in the late 17th century. Errifi was also responsible for rebuilding the city's Grand Mosque further south. The mosque was expanded by Errifi's grandson, Ahmed, who added its minaret and ornate entrance. Its prayer hall was expanded under Sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman, who ruled between 1859 and 1873. It was restored around 1889 for the visit of Sultan Moulay Hassan I. In 1921, the official in charge of religious foundations in the region restored the mosque but covered up much of its original decoration in the process, using new colors. Some of this cover-up has been cleared in recent years during renovations that finished around 2015.