Casablanca : la réconciliation patrimoniale comme enjeu de l’identité urbaine

Abstract

Référence électroniqueRaffaele Cattedra, « Casablanca : la réconciliation patrimoniale comme enjeu de l'identité urbaine », Rives nord-méditerranéennes [ Au-delà des aspects strictement juridiques et techniques qui constituent la toile de fond de la légitimation patrimoniale, nous essayerons de saisir comment certains « objets » (monuments, quartiers) assument une valeur patrimoniale. Il s'agit d'appréhender les modalités par lesquelles ces objets sont investis et acquièrent -dans un moment et un contexte donnés -une plus-value par rapport à d'autres lieux urbains, d'évaluer la manière par laquelle s'opère et se construit leur sélection, s'interroger, au fond, sur la manière dont « est socialement produit le patrimoine » 1 . 3Nous développerons ce propos autour de quatre « ensembles urbains » casablancais, qui malgré leur diversité historique, représentent des lieux privilégiés d'évocation ou d'intervention patrimoniale, qu'elle soit de nature historique, architecturale, idéologique (Fig. 1). Il s'agit de l'ancienne médina, noyau historique de la ville ; du centre-ville d'héritage colonial (avec son bâti art déco, néo-mauresque et moderniste) ; du quartier néo-traditionnel dit des Habous (également d'origine coloniale, appelé couramment « Nouvelle médina ») ; de la Grande Mosquée Hassan II, monument intentionnel contemporain bâti sur la mer au début des années 1990.

A new guidebook analysis method for the study of tourist-historic cities: The case of the Maghreb

“…These activities resulted in the restoration of splendour to many buildings, which began to be recognized as primary attractions. In Morocco, the approach of the authorities to colonial development also changed (Cattedra, 2003). The decision was made to renovate buildings which, in time, began to be described once again in the guidebooks.…”

Urban Rehabilitation of the City Center of Oran (Algeria): A Reconciliation With the Colonial Heritage?

“…Despite enduring traces of architectural and urban planning movements, the endeavor aims at both "symbolic and economic" heritage enhancement within the collective imagination of the current social component. A study on Casablanca's "heritage reconciliation as an issue of urban identity" by Raffaelle Cattedra (2003) sheds light on a comparable North African port city and regional metropolis, which can be easily compared to the situation in Oran. Although Casablanca's urban history does not delve as deep as Oran's due to its inception during the French Protectorate in Morocco, both cities share centralities devoid of significant heritage pre-dating the French occupation, apart from the presence of Spanish buildings (Rosalcazar) and Turkish elements (the Bey's palace, the Mosque of Pasha, the Turkish baths and the Jewish quarter, El Derb) in Oran.…”

Postcolonial Industrial Heritage in North Africa: Investigations and Insights Into the City of Casablanca, Morocco

“…There are many interpretations, but the majority of Moroccan researchers and historians agree that the colonial construction of heritage and the preservation of Moroccan Medinas representing the "memory of the other," the indigenous, supports the rupture and seals the difference with the latter. The "Old Medina," an ancient territory that shelters and closes in on the natives to isolate them and better control them, versus the "European City," a new territory that meets all the needs of the colonists [8], [9]. What is certain, leaving aside the main motivations of General Lyautey, is that the city of Casablanca developed outside the limits of the Old Medina with the aim of preserving it behind its ramparts and raising it to the level of a sacred heritage.…”