Moroccan History Showcased in Rare Exhibition at French Museum

The exhibition is about "Morocco: dynasties at the heart of a millennial history". A true "cultural and historical immersion through the ages, from the Idrissids to Mohammed VI", it highlights some 23 portraits of the Alaouite dynasty, loaned by the Moroccan embassy in France. "I got to know Morocco at a young age, like many Franco-Moroccans, first through my essential summer vacations. Then, I became an academic, passionate about Muslim civilization. After Covid, many elders left us, and I became a father. I quickly realized that we had to take responsibility and seize this History to better transmit it," explains historian Jamal El Hamri, curator of the exhibition, to the newspaper Actu.

"The exhibition is of course aimed at all those curious about the History of Morocco, but mainly at Franco-Moroccan youth. When I think about an exhibition, I place myself above all on an emotional level. I ask myself: what would I have liked to know when I was younger. They are like me, French, Moroccan, and much more. This exhibition is there to give them historical references, to show them that Morocco is also a multi-identity country - Arab, Berber, Muslim - to make them want to push doors," details the Franco-Moroccan, an Islamologist at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris.

Several activities are planned alongside this exhibition. Two workshops will be organized: the first, led by Abdelsam Ladjoua on July 5, 2025, will focus on Arabic calligraphy, and the second, scheduled for May 28, 2025, will highlight Moroccan zellige. Conferences with historians and writers are planned. This Saturday, May 24, a conference will focus on the French protectorate in Morocco. The place of Moroccans in French History will also be addressed during the period. Readings of Moroccan tales are also planned. Writer Halima Hamdane has already led a first session this Wednesday. She will do the same exercise on Saturday, June 14 and Wednesday, July 23, 2025. On June 4, Franco-Moroccan Zineb Mekouar, finalist for the Goncourt for first novel in 2022, will come to talk about "Remember the bees", her second book published in 2024.