Rissani
| Rissani ⵔⵉⵙⵙⴰⵏⵉ |
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| Basic data | |||||
| State : |
 Morocco
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| Region : | Drâa-Tafilalet | ||||
| Province : | Errachidia | ||||
| Coordinates | 31 ° 17 ′ N , 4 ° 16 ′ W | ||||
| Residents : | 20,489 (2004) | ||||
| Height : | 750 m | ||||
Rissani ( Central Atlas Tamazight ⵔⵉⵙⵙⴰⵏⵉ ; officially Moulay Ali Chérif ) is a desert city with a partially urban character and around 25,000 inhabitants in the province of Errachidia in the Drâa-Tafilalet region in southern Morocco .
location
Rissani is located in the oasis landscape of the Tafilalet on the Oued Ziz, which is rarely water-bearing here, at an altitude of approx. 750 m about 22 km south of Erfoud on the N 13, which continues to Merzouga and the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi . At the same time, Rissani forms the eastern end point of the N 12 or R 108 coming from the Draâ Valley ( Zagora ).
history
Rissani is not far from the ruins of the former caravan town of Sidschilmasa , which was of great importance for Morocco in the Middle Ages. The origin of Rissani is closely linked to the Alawid dynasty , which has ruled Morocco since the 17th century. The Alavids are still very attached to their homeland, because the city and its surroundings are repeatedly decorated with a new building (monumental gate), or older buildings are maintained (mausoleum) or restored (Ksar Abouam).
Townscape
Houses
Today's townscape is characterized by a large square in the center and broad, largely straight streets with new houses painted light red with walls made of hollow blocks , ceilings and stairs made of cast concrete, large windows and satellite dishes. The ground floor of most residential buildings is used as a shop, craft workshop, workshop or office. There is no old town ( medina ).
market
The market ( suq ) , which now takes place daily, is an essential part of the townscape . Almost everything can be found in simple wooden booths and on tables: living and dead animals, used and new kitchen utensils, tools, fossils, vegetables, baskets and stools, bicycles, second or third-hand clothing, jewelry, ceramics, natural remedies, etc. v. m. The spacious donkey parking lot of the market participants is also impressive. There is probably no such lively and diverse market in all of Morocco.
Ksar Abouam
Not far from the center of the village is the rammed earth Ksar Abouam, one of several royal ksour in the vicinity of Rissani. The right-angled, narrow and in many places built-up alleys made a dilapidated and very poor impression for a long time, until extensive security and maintenance work began in 2005. Several dark-skinned families still live here, all of them descendants of former slaves from Black Africa ( Haratin ).
Surroundings
Ksour
In the near and far vicinity of Rissani there are about 50 other ksour with a geometric floor plan: Ksar Ouled Abd-el-Halim, Ksar Abbar u. v. a. (see web link). These were mostly only built around 100 to 200 years ago and sometimes served as a retreat or place of exile for widows or other unwelcome members of the royal family. All buildings have fallen into disrepair and today serve as shabby accommodation for the guard families and other people from the poorer population. Only the remains of architectural ornaments on the gates or towers of the Ksour indicate that they once saw better times.
Moulay Ali Cherif Mausoleum
Not far from Ksar Abbar is the mausoleum for Moulay Ali Cherif, the founder of the Alawid dynasty who died in Rissani in 1659. Large parts of the complex were only built in the 1960s and are well equipped and maintained by the Moroccan royal family. The name ' Cherif ' indicates that the founder of the dynasty and thus all of his male descendants - including the current Moroccan king - are viewed as direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed and are respected accordingly. Only the well-tended gardens of the mausoleum - for Muslims an allusion to the paradise prophesied in the Koran - is accessible to tourists, whereas the actual grave building can only be viewed from the outside.
Personalities
- Muhammad al-Hilali (1893–1987), religious scholar and Koran translator
literature
- Arnold Betten: Morocco. Antiquity, Berber Traditions and Islam - History, Art and Culture in the Maghreb. DuMont-Verlag, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7701-3935-4 , pp. 309f.
- Ingeborg Lehmann, Rita Henss u. a .: Morocco. Baedeker-Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-8297-1251-4 , p. 466ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population statistics Morocco ( Memento from July 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive )