The Café Maure in Rabat, located in the Kasbah des Oudayas, was demolished. It will be rebuilt identically as part of an overall project to develop the Kasbah.
A new life for the famous Café Maure, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. Constituting a danger to the public, it has been demolished. Public opinion was quickly inflamed on the web, but things are clear today. The Café Maure will be rebuilt identically.
“The intervention on the Café Maure is part of an overall project to develop the Kasbah of the Udayas,” stressed, in a joint statement, the Rabat-Salé Mémoire Association and the Ribat Al-Fath Association, following a meeting held Tuesday, by their respective presidents, Fikri Benabdallah and Abdelkrim Bennani with the wali of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and the regional director of the Ministry of Culture.
The demolition of this historical vestige is explained by the fact that it suffers from serious problems due to non-standard additions that today constitute hidden defects, such as the erosion of the coffee grounds, the embrittlement of the buttresses, the corrosion of the steels of the reinforced concrete slabs, the infestation and degradation of the wooden beams supporting the corbelled benches on the cliff and the lack of foundations for the reinforced concrete structure columns. The press release of the two associations also notes that “these observations, submitted to the two associations during the meeting, are based on the diagnoses established by the laboratory, the specialized design office and the architect. Ultimately, this situation jeopardizes the stability of this place with high public and tourist attendance”. How is this emblematic place of the metropolis going to preserve its touch, its history and above all its heritage value if it is totally demolished and rebuilt again? The Café Maure will undergo restructuring, which aims to encourage a return to the Café Maure’s original structural and architectural components “as attested by various works and period photographic supports and previously recommended by the heritage impact study -EIP- established for the occasion,” the press release explains. The two associations assure that from an architectural point of view, the restoration project will preserve the immutable, original and real identity of the site, adding that “this strategic option will take care to remove any additions or appendages that have, in fact, damaged the historic architectural integrity of this place of memory”.
To this end, two measures have been taken, namely future prior consultation with all the actors concerned by heritage, including civil society. “This communication will make it possible to avoid in the future any problems hindering collective support for projects of this nature, while at the same time strengthening their legitimacy”, it is assured. The second measure concerns the creation of committees to monitor the implementation of all sensitive projects impacting on the image and memory of the city of Rabat.
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