Hassan II Mosque

Casablanca, Morocco, Morocco

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The Hassan II Mosque is Morocco’s largest and one of the world’s biggest mosques, located on a dramatic oceanfront promontory in Casablanca where it partially stands over the Atlantic Ocean, embodying the Quranic verse that God’s throne is built upon water.

Completed in 1993 after six years of construction by over 6,000 Moroccan master artisans and designed by French architect Michel Pinseau under King Hassan II’s guidance, the mosque features a 210-meter (689-foot) minaret—the tallest in the world—topped with a laser beam that points directly toward Mecca. It can accommodate up to 105,000 worshippers, with 25,000 inside the massive prayer hall and 80,000 more in its courtyards, which include a retractable roof and heated floors for comfort.

The interior showcases the finest Moroccan craftsmanship: hand-carved cedar wood from the Middle Atlas, pink granite from Agadir, intricate zellige geometric tilework, gilded cedar ceilings, marble floors, and brass-and-titanium gates, with ablution fountains shaped like lotus flowers carved from local marble. As one of only two mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims, it offers guided multilingual tours (in French, English, German and Spanish) for visitors dressed modestly, allowing them to explore the prayer hall, subterranean ablution rooms and a small museum of traditional arts.