Minaret at the Portuguese City of Mazagan

For the most part, the Proituguese City of MAzagan is well preserved. The old Manueline Church of the Assumption is still there though it doesn’t seem to function as a church anymore, it is still intact. The Portuguese Cistern used to be a warehouse and it was turned into a cistern and now a tourist attraction. It is surprising how much the city was kept pretty much the way it was. The Portuguese abandoned the city and it was naturally taken over by the Moroccans but it was never really Moroccan-ized. By this time, there was already a large settlement outside the old city so there was no need to change it up that much.

Having said that, there are still a few residents here in the old city. And where there are residents there would be a mosque. I never actually noticed any mosque here but I notice a tall white structure behind the Portuguese cistern. This used to be a lighthouse, which makes sense because of its proximity to the sea. This lighthouse was converted into a minaret which would explain the strange design of the structure. You wouldn’t notice that it is actually a minaret unless you look at the very top of the tower which definitely looks like a mosque’s minaret. Perhaps this is their way of preserving without changing things too much.

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