Historic 12th-Century Moroccan Mosque Rebuilt After Devastating 2023 Earthquake

The Great Mosque of Tinmel is undergoing reconstruction. This historic place of worship was among the buildings that were already in poor condition before the 2023 earthquake that killed around 3,000 people and injured 5,600, and damaged some 60,000 homes in nearly 3,000 villages in the High Atlas and its surroundings. After nearly 900 years, the Great Mosque of Tinmel had fallen into ruins - its minaret overturned, its prayer hall full of rubble, its outer walls overturned, and was the subject of an 18-month restoration project before the earthquake.

"The mosque has withstood the centuries. It is the will of God," local press Nadia El Bourakkadi, the site’s curator, said. Considered the cradle of one of Morocco’s oldest civilizations, this place of worship served as a source of inspiration for the highly visited sacred sites of Marrakech and Seville. Pilgrims once traveled the High Atlas to pay homage and visit it. "It was abandoned by the state, but no material was recovered from it," said Mouhcine El Idrissi, an archaeologist at the Moroccan Ministry of Culture. The people here have long respected it as a witness to their glorious and spiritual past."

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The reconstruction of the Great Mosque of Tinmel is part of the reconstruction program launched by the Moroccan government, which is scheduled to last five years. It targets the regions of Marrakech, Al Haouz, Taroudant, Chichaoua, Azilal and Ouarzazate and includes initiatives to restore infrastructure, rebuild housing, boost the local economy and support employment.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and the Ministry of Culture have called on the expertise of Moroccan architects, archaeologists and engineers to oversee the project. The Italian government is supporting the project. It has sent the architect Aldo Giorgio Pezzi, who was also a consultant for the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of the largest in Africa.

"We will rebuild it based on the evidence and remains we have so that it becomes as it was," said the Moroccan Minister of Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Toufiq, to The Associated Press.