UNESCO sends expert to Moroccan city to assess candidacy to world legacy

An expert from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is on a mission to the Atlantic Ocean city of El Jadida to assess the city's candidacy to be part of the UNESCO world legacy list.

Nuno Santos Pincheiro held a round table with Moroccan experts who briefed him on historical and architectural monuments in the city.

Formerly called Mazagan, El Jadida, a Portuguese city dating back to the early 16th century, boasts several architectural and historical riches, including Citerna, a remarkable piece of the Gothic-manuelin style, bastions and outstanding walls. The city also bears testimony to five centuries of cultural melting between the three revealed religions.

Surrounded by imposing ramparts, witnesses of a defensive-styled architecture of the 16th century, Mazagan emerges as a reminiscence of a shared history between Morocco and Portugal.

The first citadel was built between 1513 and 1514 and it bears an inscription over the main gate testifying that construction of the city ramparts was completed in 1542. In 1769, following a siege ordered by Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, the Portuguese evacuated the city and in 1820, a Jewish community was authorized to settle there.