Each historian will give you a different version of the construction of this district. One thing is certain, the Habous district remains a crossroads of ideas, steeped in history and symbolism.
We are in Casablanca, the noisy, the city that never sleeps and never stops. In the heart of the white city, however, there is a place where an almost religious silence prevails over the surrounding frenzy: the Habous district.
Its architecture gives this illusion of an ancient medina dating back several centuries. An illusion desired by its builders, as history professor Latifa Ben Abdelkrim explains to us: “The construction of the district began in 1918, when Morocco was under French protectorate. Two architects (Auguste Cadet and Edmond Brion, editor’s note) took over the sketches of Albert Laprade who was inspired by other cities in the kingdom to provide a medina for newcomers.
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The district was built from 1918. / Ph. DR
Indeed, the city has always been a very important place both economically and strategically for the regime in place. Gradually, immigration to the city only increased with the arrival of Europeans, as well as bourgeois families from Morocco. The Habous district was then modeled to meet the needs of Moroccan families. “On these 15 hectares, we found all the components of a Moroccan-style medina, which was made by the French in order to separate them from the colonials”, explains Latifa Ben Abdelkrim.
Thus the district will become an essential part of the life of Casablancais, where everything was sold there. “The French left, but the district retained its cachet and its economic, administrative and cultural importance, which will never leave it”, continues the researcher.
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Even after the departure of the French, the district retained its cachet. / Ph. DR
A postcard
Here, as in all Moroccan medinas, you are asked to open your eyes wide, to smell the smells and to feel an atmosphere that you cannot find in the surrounding districts of the city. Here, Moroccan craftsmanship is better represented than anywhere else in Casablanca.
Abdelkader, who has a small store of 10 square meters, gives us a tour of the owner. Objects of all kinds, leather bags, ashtrays, Moroccan tunics and other objects that tourists particularly love. However, Abdelkader tells us that this time is over: “During the 1970s, the activity was always running at full speed, but now it is no longer the case… Even Europeans don’t come much anymore.”
“It’s more the Asians who come, not to buy but to take over our models and flood our markets with counterfeits”, accuses this trader in the Habous district for more than 40 years.
Finally, Abdelkader warns of the need for a “revaluation of the district so that it does not serve only as a postcard or a cinematographic setting for tourists”.
A representation of Morocco
Another inseparable element of the district: the many bookstores and stationery stores that have not yellowed. In one of the oldest, Dar Attakafa (Maison de culture), Mohamed Nabgha, who has been working there for about ten years, tells us about the “role of cultural transmission that establishments like this play”. A mission that is “extremely important for the neighborhood and for the whole city”.
Indeed, the booksellers of the Habous are nationally known because “people used to come here to find all the books”, he explains to us. But what is most remarkable according to Mohamed, is the captivating atmosphere of the district with “a magic of its own”. “It is the meeting point of several cultures,” he explains.
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The district is “the meeting point of several cultures”. / Ph. DR
“This district is a representation of all of Morocco, whether at the cultural or religious level, and which at the same time represents the values of an entire society.”
Mohamed Nabgha
Mohamed, who was born and raised in Habous, tells us about a perfect symbiosis between “culture, religion and green space that has made it possible to cultivate a love for books, to raise spirits and to cherish the moments of sharing with the community”.
For all these reasons and many others, “the Habous district is much more than a postcard: it represents what Morocco has best to offer”, he concludes.