The cultural landscape of the city of Essaouira has just been enriched with the opening of the French Institute, the 12th of its kind in Morocco.

Located in the Medina, in a 19th-century Riad that housed the former French consulate, the French Institute, which replaces the Franco-Moroccan Alliance, offers language courses, certifications, a media library including more than 7,000 works, and a "culturethèque", a kind of digital media library giving remote access to thousands of complementary resources, including 400 magazine press titles.

According to the management of the French Institute, this establishment will offer, from the end of 2014, the cultural offer of the France-Morocco season, with a cultural program covering more than 35 international events.

Speaking during a ceremony marking the official inauguration of this establishment, last Thursday, André Azoulay, advisor to H.M. the King and president of the Founder of the Essaouira-Mogador Association, stressed that "the rebirth of Essaouira has taken place, for about twenty years, by and thanks to culture. It is a choice that was, at the beginning, criticized and which created more skepticism than certainty. But, we persevered and we saw that this city is reborn through what belongs to it. It is, therefore, from culture, otherness, old stones, and heritage that the rebound took place in Essaouira".