Five centuries gone up in smoke

The inhabitants of Taroudant will find it hard to forget 2013. This year saw the collapse of their great mosque due to a gigantic fire that completely ravaged this historic building, after the fire started in carpets caused by a short circuit. No casualties were reported, but "entire sections" of the mosque collapsed. Classified as a "historic monument" of Morocco, this building was constructed during the reign of the Saadian King Mohammed Cheikh in the 16th century, about a hundred kilometres east of Agadir. Very famous for its 27-metre-high minaret, whose square shape was inspired by that of the Kaaba in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), this mosque was considered the largest of this dynasty that reigned in the 16th and 17th centuries.