Destination : Africa
North Africa : Morocco : Meknes
In Meknes, the sanctuary containing the tomb of the city's founder, Moulay Ismail, is a beautiful example off architecture. At the Moulay Ismail sanctuary, the anteroom to the tomb has walls with a series of levels consisting of enamel-painted wood, elaborately carved plaster, graceful arches and marble columns. Non-Muslims cannot approach the tomb, but it's visible through a Moorish doorway. There is two antique clocks, one on each side of the doorway, were gifts from Louis XIV, which the king is said to have sent when he refused Ismail's request to add a French princess to his hundreds of wives.

History
Moulay Ismail II was a Moroccan emperor who lived during 1672–1727 The Alawite sultan is said to have sired 888 children (548 sons and 340 daughters) through a harem of 500 women throughout his life. The capital city he built is sometimes called the "Versailles of Morocco", because of its extravagance. His father Moulay Idriss' reign was brief. He died in 1791, said to have been poisoned under orders from Baghdad where Haroun al-Rashid -- the caliph, or successor to the prophet as the ruler of Islam -- had grown jealous of the rival power that Idriss was developing.
Moulay Idriss II, built the city of Fez as Morocco's first Islamic capital. While Fez is different from the country's other old imperial capitals, nearby Meknes and Marrakhech to the south, it set the tone for the Islamic architecture of the others.
Except for Casablanca's recently built Hassan II mosque, Morocco's mosques are off-limits to non-Muslims. But all can see the palaces, gates of old city walls, and medersas, or Islamic schools, which well illustrate the restraint and grace of Morocco's Islamic art.
During Ismail's II reign, Morocco's capital city was moved from Marrakech to Meknes. Inspired by the decadence of King Louis XIV of France, Ismail began construction of an elaborate imperial palace, and other monuments. At its peak, Ismail's empire spread from present day Algeria to Mauritania.

The success of his empire was not without cost. Ismail is noted as one of the greatest figures in Moroccan history, well known for his legendary cruelty. In order to intimidate rival tribles, Ismail ordered that his city walls be adorned with 10,000 heads of slain enemies. Legends of the ease in which Ismail could behead or torture laborers or servants he thought to be lazy are numerous. Within 20 years of Ismail's rule, 30,000 people died.

Moulay Ismail enlisted over 25,000 Christian prisoners and 30,000 common criminals as laborers in the construction of his great city. Over 16,000 slaves from sub-Saharan Africa were captured to serve in his elite Black Guard. He developed his powerful army by supplying black African slaves with women, then raising the children as soldiers. By Ismail's death, the guard had grown tenfold, the largest in Moroccan history.

After Ismail's death, his grandson, Mohammad III moved the capital back to Marrakech, and stripped Meknes of much of its riches to build the new imperial city. Ismail's grand mausoleum is open even to non-Muslims as a testament to the greatness of this effective, however barbaric ruler.

More Pictures


The inner mosque


Carved, wooden doors in the ablutions' room.


The ceiling of the square ablutions' room.


The architecture is absolutely stunning maybe one day i will visit.

CEASE AND DESIST!! COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT!!! CALL THE LAW!!!

Anxiety said:

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[This message was edited Sat Jan 31 17:01:11 PST 2004 by katt]

I've actually been here and it is amazing. why were these pics on NPGMC?

a cruel dictator and slave owner even? interesting
[This message was edited Sat Jan 31 17:08:21 PST 2004 by XxAxX]

katt said:

No comment.

jessyMD32781 said:

to show where they stole their architectural ideas from, i suppose.

katt said:

"The Alawite sultan is said to have sired 888 children (548 sons and 340 daughters) through a harem of 500 women throughout his life."

WOOOH!!

What religion is this?
Can i join?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

givin' credit where credit's due, right?

Here they come Prince...

I googled this up and what is also interesting is that the carvings on the moldings repeat "Allah" in Arabic over and over again. Also some travelers journal said they weren't charged a fee, but encouraged to give a donation

Someone post this on NPGMC and see what the response is. I dare ya'.

Maybe I'll ask a pp myself next time I'm in chat?

Nevermind...I see Katt already posted it in the Knowledge section.

beautifulone7 said:

squirrelgrease said:

it's the hennepin county jail fo' yo ass!

"Moulay Ismail enlisted over 25,000 Christian prisoners and 30,000 common criminals as laborers in the construction of his great city. Over 16,000 slaves from sub-Saharan Africa were captured to serve in his elite Black Guard. He developed his powerful army by supplying black African slaves with women, then raising the children as soldiers. By Ismail's death, the guard had grown tenfold, the largest in Moroccan history. "


Gosh, what a "great" man. So interesting to never hear a word of disgust about this from the NPGMC.

Wow. The club clearly IS a representation of that tomb...

Interestingly, I've always heard Prince screaming "Allah!!! Allah!!!" at the end of Digital Garden (I think that's the one...or one of the segues?) ... seems like the Nation of Islam Extremists' reach is farther than previously thought...which would explain the PeePee's objections to making fun of fellow convert Michael Jackson.

Two of the local yokels had the following convo in the thread katt started on Da Clubb:

yokel no. 1 (actually he's a cool guy, i'm jess playin')

said:

yokel no. 2 then said:


Wait...can someone on here help me understand this line of reasoning? I don't follow - I'm not being snide, I'm totally earnest - how exactly does the revelation that the design of Da Clubb was clearly jacked from some Muslim temple that Prince or someone close to him must have visited lead one to believe that he's showing an open mind about religion?

theblueangel said:

i like ur
.
[This message was edited Sun Feb 1 15:16:09 PST 2004 by katt]

I like your ...let's get a threesome goin' on with , okay? Shoot, you know what? I'm feelin' frisky and the llama likes to watch:

theblueangel said:

HuH?

Yes?

Hey Gooey!!! I was hoping that would pull you out of hiding!!! You cute thang...

It's kinda like the bat symbol...

gooeythehamster said:

gooey ur back
I got a

theblueangel said:

Very interesting

Thanks Katt

Kodjo said:

Thanku i was thinking about doing a guided tour off the rooms as its like having a history lesson, yet i am not sure people will like, i am still thinking on that one...

theblueangel said:

I think they were poking fun at how Prince's image can be holier-than-thou in the minds of some but yet he writes something like "Moors in Spain" or uses the Muslim tomb as one of his "rooms". This causes some people to either freak out and question his religious beliefs, sincerity, views on racism, blah, blah, blah or pretend like it never happened. I believe the two individuals were poking fun at those who take Prince so seriously. I don't think they were "yokels" those are 2 pretty intelligent dudes, imo.

beautifulone7 said:

"bla bla bla"?

So we shouldn't take Prince seriously when he speaks of:

"long haired barbaric Europeans wallowing in their own bigotry, while the Moors were truly free"?

Okay! So I guess it's okay for The Moors, but not the European "bigots" to:

"sire 888 children (548 sons and 340 daughters) through a harem of 500 women"

"have mosques off-limits to non-Muslims"

"[be]inspired by the decadence of King Louis XIV of France"

"[have an]empire [that]spread from present day Algeria to Mauritania"

"[be] well known for [] legendary cruelty.

"intimidate rival tribles"

"order that city walls be adorned with 10,000 heads of slain enemies"

"[have] 30,000 people die within 20 years of rule"

"enlist over 25,000 Christian prisoners and 30,000 common criminals as laborers in the construction of [a] city"

"[have] over 16,000 slaves captured from sub-Saharan Africa to serve in [an] elite Black Guard"

" develop [a] powerful army by supplying black African slaves with women, then raising the children as soldiers"

A Moorish ruler is still hailed for this "greatness".


Yeah, I guess we shouldn't take Prince seriously. Not seriously at all...


--
[This message was edited Wed Feb 4 3:42:45 PST 2004 by Abrazo]

I don't take Prince any more seriously than I do anyone else. He's JUST a musician. If you want to take him seriously, that's on you. My comments were directed to the BlueAngel because he indicated he wasn't clear on what the NPGMC members meant in their posts. And the club has been up since March of 2003 and someone JUST figured out that the backdrop of many of it's rooms is the Tomb. If that wasn't known, this conversation wouldn't even be happening. Much like if we didn't have TiVo and could endlessly replay Janet Jackson's nipple exposure frame by frame and close up.