Before talking about the Kasbah of Boulaouane, it would be interesting to talk a little more about the history of Boulaouane village.
Boulaouane (the center of the Boulaouane group, the leadership of the sons of Faraj) is a city among the few cities that religious tourists dream of. They visited a huge number of cities lying on the bottom of the earth and searched for places in the world away from the hustle and bustle, to settle in the vastness of its natural geography free from industrialization and its environmental waste. When the sunset turns red, it lights up With its charming redness, the walls of the castle located at the top of the plateau, and when you see it from under the slopes of the hills on the bank of the valley, its aesthetic identity ripples in your eyeballs. That bright past, it is going through a harsh ordeal and in a deplorable state of deterioration, so that the rest of its buildings are threatened to fall from one moment to the next..
The following survey takes the reader to this landmark between nature and pristine tourism sites after it was affected by the factors of time and long forgotten, 85 kilometers southeast of the city of El Jadida in the direction of the city of Settat. Sprawling sides embracing fields, meadows, and cultivated areas full of charm and prestige, and between those hills and hills that reach the outskirts of the city of Boulaouane, and over the vision from afar, the Kasbah of Boulaouane looms, transcendent with glory and greatness towards the heights, on a rocky hillock in the left bank of the river, which is linked to neighboring hills with a narrow strip of land. A temple that reaches up to the main door of the Kasbah, as if fate had kept it hidden from the eyes of archaeological researchers, to make it a solitude for those who visited it or knew it even he did not carry any baggage except a book and a stick that would add to his prestige and solemnity.
We set out, accompanied by our colleagues, Ahmed Du Al-Rashad, a press reporter, and Mubarak Asman, a delegate from the Ministry of Tourism. We turned the pages of history on this teacher and photographed her with a camera, page by page, contemplating, silent and confused.
History turns into piles of dust
If the ancient Moroccan cities boast history, heritage and everything that is authentic, then the reality in the city of Bulaouan is something else. Which includes evidence from our Islamic, artistic and military history for a long time, hardly anything is excluded. However, the nature of the hurtful oblivion did not succeed in diminishing the importance of the region and its pristine nature, which captivates with its magnificence, in contrast to what it did with exploits in many other regions.
It seems that the Ministry of Culture is called upon today, more than ever, to restore forts and castles that are about to fall, and to restore what has disappeared from them as a result of their exposure to erosion factors and the intervention of the human hand. Tourism activities in it and opening it to tourists, expatriates and residents, in support of efforts to develop and revitalize the tourism sector, about which a lot has been said and its importance in revitalizing the economic and social reality of the city.
Mr. Hassan Hafsi, representative of the Ministry of Tourism in the province of El Jadida, said in a statement to us that the Kasbah of Boulaouane can be the backbone of a distinguished Doukkali tourist product based mainly on its historical and architectural value despite the disappearance of large parts of it. With the traces left by man represented by castles, forts, monuments and museums, Al-Hassan Hafsi added that the geographical location of the Kasbah is (a forested area and two rivers walk from the east with a steep rocky stream) in addition to the presence of other unique urban landmarks close to the road leading to the Kasbah. Al-Qawasim, which is known for its people’s practice of falconry, are all factors that we firmly believe qualify it to create a stand-alone tourism product with a little financial and organizational support from the actors. They are waiting for greater efforts to restore the Kasbah and complete feasibility studies in order to prepare for attracting investments of the appropriate size and shape. It remains to point out in the end that the proposal for completion A golf project in this location is a proposal that deserves attention.
For his part, Ezz El-Din Kara confirmed that this Kasbah of historical importance does not pose a technical problem in terms of its restoration. Several technical studies have been conducted on it by specialized departments in the Ministry of Culture, but the problem remains the funding problem due to its high costs, in addition to the necessity of integrating this process within a project that grows. An integrated project in the region that ensures the continuity of its care and employment for tourism and cultural purposes.
The castle in historical sources
Al-Hassan Al-Wazzan mentions that its founder is Sultan Abd al-Mu’min ibn Ali al-Muwahdi, and it was inhabited by many professional nobles for the acquisition of livestock and agriculture. The Moroccans and the Portuguese aggressors came from the city of Asfi and Azemmour, which prompted the residents of Boulaouane to evacuate it due to their lack of a sense of security, so Mawla Ismail, who wished to establish security in the region at the end of his rule, built a military fortress to guard the roads that linked the capital of Meknes to the various aspects of the Kingdom, given its location that controls the One of the main passages between Marrakech and Fez is the river Umm al-Rubaie, and it is unknown why the Kasbah was deserted and devoid of residents, but (Colvin) gave an explanation related to the attempt of Mawla Ismail to perpetuate the memory of the death of his favorite wife (Halima Ghashawah), whose death he was deeply saddened by, so he closed the Kasbah of Bulaouan And he never returned to it, and after years of that, and during his death, he ordered the complete evacuation of the Kasbah.
In the past, this Kasbah, given its location that controls the main passages between Marrakesh and Fez, had a strategic importance, in addition to its location on the common borders between three major tribal groups: Doukkala, Chaouia, and Rhamna, which made it politically and militarily an excellent center for observation. The list still confirms the ingenuity of our ancestors in constructing castles and fortresses and tightening the means of defense and siege in them with precision and skill. Mawla Ismail continued to use this kasbah during his movements between Fez, Meknes and Marrakech.
What distinguishes the Kasbah at first sight is its occupation of an impenetrable and fortified site above a rocky plateau on the left bank of the Umm al-Rabiah river, which enables surveillance and guarding. Sultan Mawla Ismail leads to rooms that completely collapsed, leaving only traces of columns and walls. We soon find ourselves pushed to recognize the splendor of Islamic architecture. After that comes a large tower, about ten meters high, attached to the courtyard of the inner house, which connects it to a door that collapsed completely. Then there is Vaulted mounds line the eastern wall in its middle section, so that the visitor can hardly enter it until it is obscured from the world by its thick walls, lit by holes and openings in its ceilings, and faint rays infiltrating from it. We do not doubt that many of those who visit this place are imprisoned by an overwhelming sense of the majesty and elevation of the building. As for the towers, they look different from a wall. It ends on the right side with a safe staircase that allows access from inside the Kasbah to the river bank at the bottom, where there are still remains of a swimming pool. Among the buildings inside the wall are a silo and a mosque in the corner. Southern Arabia was in a good condition due to the cement and stone restorations on it and next to it the dome of a righteous man called Sidi Mansour, and if we exclude some of the light restorations at the entrance to the main door that were carried out by the Ministry of Culture in the early eighties, what was restored by one of the previous councils is surprising Because it was conducted with cement and without consulting an archaeological researcher.
