This was our first stop on this day in Casablanca and it was easily our best stop in all of Casablanca. The Hassan II Mosque or the Grand Mosque of Hassan II is the third largest mosque in the world behind those in Mecca and Medina. It’s considered a masterpiece of Arab-Muslim architecture. The prayer hall can accommodate 25,000 believers while the plaza in front of the mosque can hold 80,000 worshippers for a total of 105,000 people. The mosque is built on an outcropping that looks out over the Atlantic Ocean. The roof is retractable and can be opened to see the stars at night or let out the heat from 25,000 believers. The minaret rises 656 feet and our guide said it was the tallest in the world.

While the mosque was spectacular, my photos are not. I was having focus problems but I’ll input a handful of them anyway.

The first photo is the mosque but far back so you can see part of the plaza that holds 80,000 worshippers.

The prayer hall photo is bad but the prayer hall itself was spectacular. The size, the elaborate decorations, and the incredible craftsmanship were something to see. The delicately carved intricate patterns in the fragrant cedar wood was very special. The gates were made of brass and titanium. Other than some chandeliers and a few other things, the rest of the materials were all from Morocco.

As much as the big pictures show the grandeur, the details of this mosque were really spectacular such as the granite floors in the prayer room.

The prayer hall was on the ground floor. In the basement were the ablutions fountains, shaped like huge lotus flowers. They were all made of white marble from Agadir on the southern Atlantic coast. As you can see, they can do a lot of ablutions and the tile work, arches, and all the details from ceiling to floor were truly spectacular.

This is one last look at the mosque to help see the size and scope of it from the outside.