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Gueliz

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Marianne
Marianne
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3 out of 5
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Gueliz

  • January 22, 2002
  • Rated 3 of 5 by Marianne from Eindhoven, Netherlands
Gueliz

Marrakech consists of two parts: the old town, or medina, which dates back over a thousand years; and the new town, called "Gueliz" (after a small mountain at the edge of it), which was designed and built by the French as a planned city early in this century.

When you look down the main street you can see the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque and beyond that the High Atlas mountains, capped with snow in winter.

The centre of Gueliz is a roundabout and the streets radiate out like spokes of a wheel. This reminded me (a little) of Paris, Place de l’Etoile and the avenues one of which is the Champs Elysee.

The French, who occupied Morocco from 1912 to 1956, had a very different conception of space from the Moroccan. To them, when Gueliz in the 1920s was being planned and constructed, streets needed to be wide and houses detached from each other and clearly visible from the street.

Gueliz is the modern business district, and completely different from the medina. At times I thought I was in some French city.

From journal Marrakesh: Djellaba and Jeans

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