Albright Includes Tangiers Site on Top of Most Remarkable US Historic Sites Abroad
Morocco-USA, History, 1/5/2001

US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, has officially included the American Legation in Tangiers, northern Morocco, on top of a list of seven most remarkable historic sites owned by the USA abroad.

Perched on the Tangiers hills, inside the walls of the old city, the site, that reconciles harmoniously the Moorish and Spanish architectures, was the first property abroad owned by the US government and used for a diplomatic mission, said Albright at a ceremony held on Thursday to officially announce the seven selected monuments. The legation was donated by King Moulay Sliman to Americans in 1821, part of the special Morocco-US relations incepted by the 1786 bilateral friendship treaty co-signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and which is the oldest treaty ever signed by the USA with a foreign country, she added.

She went on that the Cap Spartel treaty, negotiated inside the American legation, reflects major international law principles and is considered as the forerunner to documents that led to the creation of the Society of Nations and then the UNO.

Managed since 1976 by the Tangiers American Legation Museum Society, the compound now hosts an Arabic-teaching school, a museum of engravings, maps, rare books, paintings, parchments and other precious items testifying to 180 years of Moroccan-US diplomacy, she added.

The other six monuments selected for their historical, architectural and cultural values are the Shoenborn Palace (Prague), Margherita Palace and its twin villas in Rome, the American Legation in Seoul, the Talleyrand hotel in Paris ( the US ambassador residence), the US embassy in Tokyo and Winfield House in London.

Albright said the inclusion of the seven sites in the list of important cultural monuments will contribute to develop the monument and give them more visibility and protection.

Previous Stories:
  Minister: over 40 monuments need urgent action   (1/3/2001)
  Green March Anniversary: Commemoration to revive the memory of a great national epic   (11/4/2000)
  Morocco acts to protect historic manuscripts   (10/24/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search