Consuls Street

Consuls Street
1- Stores of sidi Muhammad ben Abdellah 2- Carpet auction 3- Consuls ctreet 4- funduq ben Aicha, ben Aissa (18th century) 5- Funduq al-Mestiri 6- Funduq al-Qaâ 7- Jamaâ al-Guezzarin 8- Gate of Sea

1- Stores of sidi Muhammad ben Abdellah

 

The Stores of sidi Muhammad ben Abdellah (1757-1790) served alternately as a wood warehous (first function in the 18th century),

Customs head office (in the beginning of the 20th century), and Parcel Post head office (1913), The two buildings the make up the complex are 40m long and 8m wide.

2- Carpet auction

 

Every Thursday morning, a carpet auction is held on sahat Zrabi (square of carpet) in the middle of the street creating a colorful display of traditional carpets.

3- Consuls ctreet

 

Up until 1912, the European delegations had to live on this street and house of the Consul of France is an example of those beautiful houses

Built around a central pation.

A funduq (caravansary) is a stopping place for traveling merchants generally built on a rectangular plan surrounding a big court. Given that, the ground floor is reserved for animals and stocking of goods,

the rooms are located in the upper floors. Nowadays, some rooms are used by local craft shops 

4- funduq ben Aicha, ben Aissa (18th century)

5- Funduq al-Mestiri

6- Funduq al-Qaâ

7- Jamaâ al-Guezzarin

 

Jamaâ al-Guezzarin (butchers mosque) was built at the end of the 18th centry under the reign of sultan mulay Sliman (1797-1822). A saqaaya (fontain) dating back to the same period was built against it has a pool 5 meter long down into four main arches inside which is inserted a decorative pa,el carving plaster.

8- Gate of Sea

 

Bab al-Bahr (Gate of Sea) until the beginning of the last century, played an important role as the landing point to sea travelers. The Bouregregg river then come to the foot of the gate xhere boats accosted. In 1910, the first backfills allowed to gain space in front of the river façade and to set up a small port ; a steam boat was used from 1913 to 1936 until it ran aground during a storm.

GPS Point

The councils Street is one of the founding axes of the Medina of Rabat, it has been conceived in the 12th century under of the Almohad dynasty. Parallel to the river Bouregreg. It allowed the connection between the Qasbah of the Oudaya in the north (through the high place of Souq Laghzal) (WooL market) to the big workshops and reserves-tanneries and grain market- in the south.
Its active commercial function is doubled from the seventeenth century with a diplomatic collection from which it takes its name: the street house of the European consular delegations until in 1912.
A trace of this double function, commercial and administrative, is still visible in some of today’ Beautiful official houses (such as that of the consul of France) and in Fondouks (caravansaries). Nowadays, the street is mostly home to businesses and local craft shops such leather, woodworking, Jewellery, and carpets.
 Thes Constance Street ends at its intersection with the Debbaghin street (Street of the Dyers) that they descend stairs to Bab al-Bahr (sea Gate).
Further down, the Waqassa Street crosses the old Jewish quarter of Mallah, which dates back to the beginning of the 19th century and was built on a steep cliff in the south east extremity of the Medina.

General plan