| |
Assilah
Assilah
(or Asilah) is a small seaside town located 46 km south of Tangiers.
Its old city bordering the ocean is remarkably well preserved, with
white houses with windows and doors painted blue, yellow or green,
its palaces, its beautiful ochre-coloured city walls built at the
end of the 15th century by the Portuguese and its gates from the
Omayad period.
Assilah had a tumultuous past. It was invaded by the Carthaginians,
then by the Romans. It resisted the assaults of the Normans who
came from Sicily in the 10th century. The Omayads of Cordoba took
control of it in 972, and it fell under Portuguese domination in
1471 (the Portuguese arrived with a fleet of 500 ships and 30,000
men!). After the famous battle of the Three Kings in 1578 (in which
the King of Portugal died) the Spanish took over, and it was only
at the end of the 17th century that the Sultan Moulay Ismail recovered
the city from them. At the beginning of the 20th century, Asilah
was the home of Raissouni, the famous bandit of Rif who exacted
money from the population. He left behind a palace which is now
used for various cultural events. Raissouni was finally chased out
by the Spanish in 1924, and they remained the masters of the city
until the independence of Morocco in 1956.
Every summer for the past 25 years, Assilah has welcomed various
cultural events as part of its international cultural Moussem organised
by the Assilah Forum Foundation: colloquia, seminars, concerts,
exhibitions, and residences for artists. All of these activities
are held at the Raissouni Palace, the Hassan II International Meeting
Centre and the Prince Bandar bin Sultan Library in a relaxed and
friendly atmosphere. |
