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Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida)

Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida)

The Portuguese fortification of Mazagan, now part of the city of El Jadida, 90-km southwest of Casablanca, was built as a fortified colony on the Atlantic coast in the early 16th century. It was taken over by the Moroccans in 1769. The fortification with its bastions and ramparts is an early example of Renaissance military design. The surviving Portuguese buildings include the cistern and the Church of the Assumption, built in the Manueline style of late Gothic architecture. The Portuguese City of Mazagan - one of the early settlements of the Portuguese explorers in West Africa on the route to India - is an outstanding example of the interchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures, well reflected in architecture, technology, and town planning.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Ville portugaise de Mazagan (El Jadida)

Les fortifications portugaises de Mazagan, qui font aujourd’hui partie de la ville d’El Jadida, à 90 km au sud-ouest de Casablanca, furent édifiées comme colonie fortifiée sur la côte atlantique au début du XVIe siècle. La colonie fut reprise par les Marocains en 1769. Les fortifications, avec leurs bastions et remparts, constituent un exemple précoce de l’architecture militaire de la Renaissance. Les édifices portugais encore visibles sont la citerne et l’église de l’Assomption, construite dans le style manuélin (gothique tardif). La ville portugaise de Mazagan, l’un des premiers établissements en Afrique occidentale des explorateurs portugais qui faisaient route vers l’Inde, offre un témoignage exceptionnel des influences croisées entre les cultures européenne et marocaine, qui apparaissent clairement dans l’architecture, la technologie et l’urbanisme.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

مدينة مازاكان البرتغالية (الجديدة)

 تقع التّحصينات البرتغاليّة في مازاكان التي باتت اليوم جزءًا من مدينة الجديدة على بعد 90 كلم جنوب غرب الدار البيضاء. لقد تم انشاء هذه التحصينات كمستعمرة محصنة على الساحل الاطلسي في بداية القرن السادس عشر. ثم استعاد المغربيون هذه المستعمرة في العام 1769. وتشكّل التحصينات، بالاضافة الى حصونها البارزة وأسوارها، مثالاً واضحًا على الهندسة المعمارية العسكرية في عصر النهضة. فالمباني البرتغالية التي لا تزال ظاهرةً حتى الآن هي الحوض وكنيسة الصعود المبنية بحسب الاسلوب المنويليّ (أواخر القوطي). وتشكل مدينة مازاكان البرتغالية، إحدى أولى المنشآت التي أقامها المستكشفون البرتغاليون في أفريقيا الغربية وهم في طريقهم الى الهند، شاهدًا استثنائيًا على التأثيرات المختلطة للثقافتَيْن الاوروبية والمغربية والتي تظهر بوضوحٍ في الهندسة المعمارية والتكنولوجيا والتنظيم المدني.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

马扎甘葡萄牙城

卡萨布兰卡西南90公里处的马扎甘军事要塞是葡萄牙人16世纪早期在大西洋海岸修筑的殖民地,现在为贾迪达市的一个部分。1769年,被摩洛哥人夺取。防御工事及其城墙和堡垒具有文艺复兴军事设计的早期风格。保留下来的葡萄牙式建筑包括水塔和圣母升天教堂,带有晚期哥特式建筑的曼奴埃尔风格。葡萄牙城是葡萄牙探险者通往印度途中在西部非洲建立的早期殖民地之一,这里是欧洲与摩洛哥文化相互影响交流和融会的例证,这一点在建筑、技术和城镇规划方面均得到完美的体现。

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Португальская крепость Мазарган, город Эль-Джадида

Старинный португальский форт Мазарган, ставший ныне частью города Эль-Джадида, в 90 км к юго-западу от Касабланки, был основан как укрепленное поселение на побережье Атлантики в начале XVI в. Он был взят марокканцами в 1769 г. Укрепления с бастионами и валами являются одним из ранних ярких примеров военного строительства эпохи Возрождения. Португальский город Мазарган – одно из первых поселений португальских мореходов в Западной Африке, лежащее на пути в Индию, – ярко демонстрирует взаимовлияние европейской и марокканской культур, нашедшее отражение в архитектуре, технике и градостроительстве.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Ciudad Portuguesa de Mazagán (El Jadida)

La ciudadela de Mazagán –que hoy forma parte de la ciudad de El Jadida– está situada a unos 90 kilómetros al sudoeste de Casablanca. Este fuerte colonial construido por los portugueses a principios del siglo XVI en la costa del Atlántico fue tomado por los marroquíes en 1769. Sus bastiones y murallas constituyen uno de los ejemplos más tempranos de la arquitectura militar renacentista. Entre los edificios portugueses aún en pie figuran la cisterna y la iglesia de la Asunción, construida en estilo manuelino (gótico tardío). La ciudad portuguesa de Mazagán fue una de las primeras factorías creadas en las costas del África Occidental por los exploradores portugueses que buscaban la ruta marítima hacia la India. Constituye un ejemplo excepcional de la mutua influencia entre las culturas europea y africana, que ha quedado patentizada en la arquitectura, la tecnología y la planificación urbanística.

source: UNESCO/CPE
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

マサガン(アル・ジャジーダ)のポルトガル都市
マサガンの城壁はカサブランカの南西90㎞付近、大西洋に面するポルトガル旧市街の一角にある。16世紀初期にポルトガル人によって築かれたが、1769年にモロッコ人の手に渡った。城塞の砦や城壁は、ルネサンス時代に造られた軍事施設の初期の例。また、貯水槽(1514建造)や聖母被昇天教会など、戦火を免れたポルトガルの建築物は後期ゴシック建築のマヌエル様式(ポルトガル王マヌエル1世時代の様式)である。ポルトガルがインド航路として西アフリカを開拓、その初期に築いたマサガンの都市や建築物は、ヨーロッパとモロッコの文化が影響し合ったことを顕著に表している。

source: NFUAJ

Portugese stad Mazagan (El Jadida)

De vesting van Mazagan – nu onderdeel van de stad El Jadida – ligt 90 kilometer ten zuidwesten van Casablanca. Het werd begin 16e eeuw gebouwd als een versterkte kolonie aan de Atlantische kust en was een van de eerste Portugese nederzettingen in Afrika op de route naar India. In 1769 werd Mazagan overgenomen door de Marokkanen. De overgebleven Portugese gebouwen zijn het waterreservoir en de Hemelvaartskerk, gebouwd in de Manuelstijl van de laatgotische architectuur. De stad is een mooi voorbeeld van de uitwisseling van invloeden tussen Europese en Marokkaanse culturen, weerspiegeld in de architectuur, technologie en stedenbouw.

Source: unesco.nl

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

The Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida), one of the first settlements created in Africa by Portuguese explorers on the route to India, bears outstanding witness to the exchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which are evident in the architecture, technology and town planning. Mazagan was built as a fortified colony on the Atlantic coast at the beginning of the 16th century. Located 90 km south of Casablanca, it dominates a natural bay of great beauty.  The brothers Francisco and Diogo de Arruda built the first citadel in 1514. In 1541- 1548, in accordance with the plans of the Italian architect Benedetto da Ravenna, Joao Ribeiro and Juan Castillo enlarged the citadel transforming it into a star-shaped fortification.

The Mazagan fortress with its ditch and inclined ramparts is one of the first testimonies in the Lusitanian period of the application by Portuguese technology of new architectural concepts of Renaissance adapted to the advent of the firearm. Complete and unique witness in Morocco to the advent of this new style, Mazagan is better preserved than other Portuguese fortifications in Morocco; most of the other Portuguese trading posts in the world having suffered many changes.

Following the departure of the Portuguese in 1769 and the resulting abandon of the city, the fortress was rehabilitated in the middle of the 19th century and named El Jadida (The New), and became a commercial centre and a multicultural society, embracing Muslims, Jews and Christians.

The shape and the layout of the fortress have been well preserved and represent an outstanding example of this category of construction.  The historic fabric inside the fortress reflects the different changes and influences over the centuries. The existent monuments of the Portuguese period are: the ramparts and their bastions, the cistern, an outstanding example of this type of structure, and the Catholic Church of the Assumption, of late Gothic style, the Manoeline style at the beginning of the 16th century. 

Criterion (ii): The Portuguese City of Mazagan is an outstanding example of the exchange of influences between the European and Moroccan cultures from the 16th to 18th centuries, and one of the very first settlements of Portuguese explorers in West Africa on the route to India. These influences are clearly reflected in the architecture, technology and urban planning of the city.

Criterion (iv): The fortified Portuguese city of Mazagan is an outstanding example and one of the first, representing the new design concepts of the Renaissance period integrated with Portuguese construction techniques.  Among the most remarkable constructions of the Portuguese period are the cistern and the Church of the Assumption, built in the Manoeline style at the beginning of the 16th century.

Integrity (2009)

The boundaries of the buffer zone and the protection zone of the Portuguese City of Mazagan as described in the documents submitted to the World Heritage Committee provide all the necessary elements for its integrity. The Portuguese fortifications of Mazagan, built in two phases (1510-1514 and 1541-1548), are impressive by their monumentality and their styles. They have conserved their original structure and architectural harmony to this day.  The emblematic monuments (ramparts, bastions, cistern, and churches) are well preserved.

The outline of the city dominating the views above the port area is an essential characteristic that needs to be conserved. The urban zone surrounding the old city of Mazagan must be closely monitored in order to check any change or new construction.

Authenticity (2009)

Always inhabited, the city presents all the conditions of authenticity that have justified its inscription on the World Heritage List. Many monuments have been rehabilitated giving them a new compatible function in the spirit of the integrated safeguarding programme carried out by the Ministry of Culture, the Province and the Urban Agency. The population of the city is fully involved and concerned with the conservation and presentation of this important Morocco-Portuguese historical place, aware that this heritage belongs to all humanity.

Protection and management requirements (2009)

The protection measures essentially concern the different laws for the listing of historic monuments and sites, in particular Law 22-80 (1981) for the conservation of Moroccan heritage.  The area of the ancient ditch of the fortifications, today filled in, has been declared a 50m-wide non aedificandi zone. Since its inscription in 2004, the Specifications for architectural regulations were adopted to strengthen legislation already in force.  The city has enjoyed a regular programme of restoration work. Development work began in October 2008 for the presentation of the port and to improve the visibility of the fortress, free the east side of the fortifications and uncover the ditches.  The Morocco-Lusitanian Heritage Centre for Study and Research (CERPML), the principal institution responsible for the management of the property, has already begun the development of a management plan and the establishment of a management committee in coordination with its partners.

Maintenance of the visual integrity as regards the urban zone of El Jadida and the harmonious relation between the Portuguese city and the modern town that surrounds it are a constant concern that requires control of the height of constructions both inside and outside the buffer zone.

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