Yet another side of the mosque that I didn’t even realize was there until we were leaving. I think there was much more to see, but it just wasn’t possible under the circumstances, with Tim in a wheelchair and Rostom, our driver, bless his heart, pushing him around.

I am trying to catch up on commenting, but wow, Pbase is working incredibly slowly for me. Don’t know if the problem is here or there, but hopefully I’ll get done sometime!

“With a prayer hall that can accommodate 25.000, the Hassan II Mosque is the second-largest religious building in the world, after the mosque in Mecca. The complex covers 9 hectares (978,774 square feet), two-thirds of it being built over the sea. The minaret, the lighthouse of Islam, is 200 m (656 feet) high, and two laser beams, reaching over a distance of 30 km (18.5 miles) shine in the direction of Mecca. The building was designed by Michel Pinseau, 35,000 craftsmen worked on it, and it opened in 1993. … [It] is a monument to Moroccan architectural virtuosity and craftsmanship.” (“Eyewitness Travel, Morocco”)

An arcade on the perimeter, posted earlier: