Morocco rebuilds 12th-century mosque destroyed by 2023 earthquake

TINMEL, Morocco (AP) — The hand-carved domes and brick arches had all been reassembled when an earthquake struck Morocco so violently that they collapsed on themselves and fell to the ground.

After nearly 900 years, the Great Mosque of Tinmel has been reduced to rubble – its minaret has fallen, the prayer hall is littered with rubble, and its outer walls have collapsed.

But even in ruins, the area remained sacred ground for the people of Tinmel. Villagers carried the bodies of 15 community members who died in the earthquake down the hill and placed them in front of the destroyed mosque.

Among the mourners was Mohammed Hartatoush, who helped carry the remains of his son Abdul Karim. The 33-year-old substitute teacher had died under bricks and collapsed walls as the village waited a day and a half for rescue teams to arrive.

“It felt like a storm. I couldn’t feel anything,” the grieving father said, recalling the day after the earthquake.

A year later, the rubble near Hartatosh's house has been cleared, leaving little of it intact, and Tinmel residents are looking forward to rebuilding their homes and mosque. They say the holy site is a source of pride and income in an area that lacked infrastructure and job opportunities long before the quake.

“It’s our past,” said Redouane Ait Salah, a 32-year-old construction worker, a week before the earthquake anniversary as he was rebuilding his home overlooking the mosque.

The September 2023 earthquake left a trail of destruction that will take Morocco years to recover from. It killed nearly 3,000 people, destroyed nearly 60,000 homes and damaged at least 585 schools. Rebuilding the damage will cost an estimated $12.3 billion, according to government estimates.

Parts of the road have become unnavigable, including Tizi n'Tist, a steep mountain pass from Marrakech to Tinmel, and some of the worst-hit villages near the epicenter.

Workers are now sifting through the rubble, searching for pieces of the mosque’s puzzle. They are stacking usable bricks and sorting out fragments of remaining decorative elements, arch by arch and dome by dome, in preparation for rebuilding the mosque using as much of what remains as possible.

Although the restoration efforts pale in comparison to the human losses and suffering, they are among Morocco's priorities in its attempts to rebuild.

The country’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Ministry of Culture hired Moroccan architects, archaeologists and engineers to oversee the project. To help, the Italian government sent Moroccan-born architect Aldo Giorgio Pizzi, who also advised on the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of the largest mosques in Africa.

“We will rebuild it based on the evidence and remains we have so that it returns to what it was,” Moroccan Islamic Affairs Minister Ahmed Toufiq told The Associated Press.

The Great Mosque was a marvel of North African architecture with its lobed arches, hand-carved moldings, and the rammed clay bricks used in most structures in the region.

The building was undergoing an 18-month restoration project when the quake struck, causing its ornate domes and columns to collapse. Its mud-colored remains lay scattered under scaffolding erected by restoration workers from villages across the region, five of whom also died.

“The mosque has stood for centuries. It is God's will,” Nadia Bourkadi, the site's conservationist, told local media. The earthquake tore down the mosque months before renovations were due to be completed.

As in many villages in the area, Tinmel's residents now live in plastic tents they brought as temporary shelter after the earthquake. Some are there because they feel safer than in their half-destroyed homes, others because they have nowhere else to go.

Officials issued more than 55,000 reconstruction permits to villagers to build new homes, including most of the houses in Tinmel. The government distributed financial aid in stages. Most families whose homes were destroyed received an initial payment of $2,000 in reconstruction aid, but no more.

Many have complained that this amount is not enough to cover the initial costs of rebuilding. According to the government's own figures, less than a thousand homes have been completed.

Despite the personal losses, Moroccans also mourn the loss of their venerated cultural heritage. Mosques, shrines, forts and centuries-old inns are scattered across the mountains. Unlike Tinmel, many have long been neglected as Morocco focused its development efforts elsewhere.

Tinmel is considered the cradle of one of its most famous civilizations. The mosque was the inspiration for the holy sites that are visited by many in Marrakesh and Seville. Pilgrims once traveled across the High Atlas to pay their respects and visit the holy sites. However, the mosque fell into disrepair over the centuries as political power shifted to the larger cities and the Moroccan coast.

“It was abandoned by the state, but no material was ever taken from it,” says Mohsin El Idrissi, an archaeologist who works with Morocco’s Ministry of Culture. “People here have long respected it as a witness to their glorious and spiritual past.”

Some of the High Atlas’s historic sites have long been a tourist draw. But the quake has highlighted the vast disparities plaguing the largely agricultural region. Poverty and illiteracy rates in the five quake-hit provinces, long marginalized, are higher than the national average, according to census data and a government report released in October 2023.

In a statement marking the anniversary of the earthquake, the Civil Alliance for the Mountain, a group of Moroccan NGOs, said: “The mountainous regions most affected are those already geographically isolated. The tragedy has exposed structural differences, a situation resulting from development policies that have always left mountains outside their scope.”

“There is a Morocco in Rabat and Marrakech, but we are talking about another Morocco in the mountains,” added Najia Ait Mohand, the regional group’s coordinator. “Right now, the most urgent need is to rebuild homes.”

The government promised a “well-thought-out, comprehensive and ambitious programme” to rebuild and improve the affected areas in general, both in terms of strengthening infrastructure and improving public services. It also pledged to rebuild “in harmony with the heritage of the region, respecting its unique architectural features” and “respecting the dignity and customs” of the residents.

For the villagers, the landmark could represent a symbol of reinvestment in one of Morocco's poorest regions, as well as a tribute to a glorious past.

Today, the place stands in disrepair, its charming ruins supported by wooden scaffolding, while villagers down the hill hang laundry and grow vegetables amid the remains of their former homes and the plastic tents they now live in.

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Associated Press religion coverage is supported through its partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The Associated Press is solely responsible for this content.

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