Chellah

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Chellah
????
Rabat, Chellah ruins 7.jpg
Part of the interior of the walled Chellah complex
Chellah is located in Morocco Chellah
Shown within Morocco
Alternate name Sala Colonia (name of Roman colony)
Location Rabat, Rabat-Sal-Knitra, Morocco
Coordinates 3400'24?N 0649'13?WCoordinates 3400'24?N 0649'13?W
Type Necropolis
History
Abandoned 1154 AD
The Chellah (Berber Calla or Sla; Arabic ?????, translit. Shillah?),[1][2] is a
medieval fortified Muslim necropolis located in the metro area of Rabat, Morocco,
on the south (left) side of the Bou Regreg estuary. The Phoenicians established a
trading emporium at the site and called it Sala.[3][4] This was later the site of
the ancient Roman colony of Sala Colonia,[5] in the Roman province of Mauretania
Tingitana.

Sala was the name given to the city founded by the Muslim conquerors of North
Africa, which was mostly abandoned during the Almohad era, then rebuilt by the
Marinids in the 13th century. The ruins of their medieval fortress are still
extant. The Berber Almohads used the site as a royal burial ground. The Marinids
made the site a holy necropolis, or chellah, and built a complex that included
mosque, minaret, and royal tombs. The tall minaret of the now-ruined mosque was
built of stone and zellige tilework, and still stands.

Contrary to legend, the corsairs of Sal did not actually operate out of Sal
(called Old Sal), but out of the city that would later become known as Rabat, (New
Sal) on the south (left) bank of the Bou Regreg.[6][7][8]

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Phoenician and Punic Sala
1.2 Roman Sala Colonia
1.3 Muslim Sala
2 Festival of Jazz
3 World Heritage Status
4 See also
5 Gallery
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]

Roman walls of Chellah

Phoenician and Punic Sala[edit]
The Phoenicians founded several colonies in what is now Morocco and built a
settlement they called Sala on the banks of the Bou Regreg river that their
Carthaginian successors occupied as well.[9]

Roman Sala Colonia[edit]

The Romans later built their own city, Sala Colonia, very near the same site. The
Roman town was referred to as Sala by Ptolemy.[10] Excavations show a substantial
port city with ruined Roman architectural elements including a decumanus maximus or
principal roadway, a forum and a triumphal arch.[11] Sala was a center of
Christianity since the 2nd century.
Roman funerary stele inscribed in Latin, Sala Colonia
One of the two main Roman Roads in Mauretania Tingitana reached the Atlantic
through Iulia Constantia Zilil (Asilah), Lixus (Larache) and Sala Colonia. Another
may have been built towards the south, from Sala to modern Casablanca, then called
Anfa. The Romans had two main naval outposts on the Atlantic coast of the province
Sala Colonia, and Lixus. The port of Sala (now disappeared) was used by commercial
Roman ships as a way station on their southwestward passages to Anfa and the Insula
Purpuraria (Mogador island).[12]

Sala remained linked to the Roman Empire even after the withdrawal in the 4th
century of the occupying Roman legions to Tingis and Septem in northern Mauretania
Tingitana. A Roman military unit remained there until the end of the 5th century.
Archaeological objects of Visigothic and Byzantine origin found in the area attest
to the persistence of commercial or political contacts between Sala and Roman
Europe, up to the establishment of a Byzantine presence in Berber North Africa
during the 7th century.[13]

Muslim Sala[edit]

Ruins of Chellah sanctuary with 13th century minaret, 2005. Note occupied stork
nest atop the minaret; see [1].
Sala continued to exist as a town of the Christianized Berbers, but was mostly in
ruins when the Muslim Arabs arrived in the 7th century. The Byzantine governor of
the area, Count Julian of Ceuta, surrendered to Uqba ibn Nafi in 683.[14] Around
1030, the town of Sala was founded at the site by the Banu 'Ashara family.[15][16]
With the extinction of the Umayyad dynasty in 1031, the Almoravids assumed control
of the Maghreb (present-day Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) and erected new buildings in
Sala.[17] They rebuilt the Great Mosque of Sala on the site of the mosque of the
Banu 'Ashara, completing it in 1196.[18]

By 1147, the Almoravids had been overthrown by the Berber Almohads, who used the
site as a royal burial ground. It was made a sacred necropolis, or chellah, by the
Marinids in the 13th century; the Muslim sanctuary complex of mosque, minaret, and
royal tombs being built by Abu Yusuf Yaqub, and finished in 1284. His remains were
moved to the necropolis after he died at Algeciras in 1286. The tall minaret of the
now-ruined mosque was built of stone and zellige tilework, and still stands.[1]
Near the minaret is the tomb of the Maranid ruler, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman,
known as the Black Sultan.

Many of the remaining structures in Chellah were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon
earthquake. The site has been converted to a garden and tourist venue, and today it
is included in the metropolitan area of Rabat.

Festival of Jazz[edit]
Since 2005, the ruins of Chella host an international Festival of Jazz each year,
called Jazz au Chellah.[19]

World Heritage Status[edit]

The site, as part of the metropolitan Rabat, was granted World Heritage Status in
2012. [20] [21] [22]

See also[edit]
flag Berbers portal
Berbers
Colonia (Roman)
Exploration of Africa
Mauretania Tingitana
Roman roads in Morocco
Volubilis
Gallery[edit]

Chellah Ramparts

Chellah necropolis entrance

Chellah necropolis interior

Chellah Ruins
References[edit]
^ Jump up to a b Sheila Blair; Jonathan M. Bloom (1995). The Art and Architecture
of Islam 12501800. Yale University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-300-06465-0.
Jump up ^ Islam art et gomtrie. BASTIEN. p. 136. GGKEY7T9G0W44YER.
Jump up ^ Glenn Markoe (2000). Phoenicians. University of California Press. p. 188.
ISBN 978-0-520-22614-2.
Jump up ^ Anna Gallina Zevi; Rita Turchetti (2004). Mditerrane occidentale
antique les changes. Atti del seminario (Marsiglia, 1415 maggio 2004). Ediz.
francese, italiana e spagnola. Rubbettino Editore. p. 224. ISBN 978-88-498-1116-2.
Jump up ^ Kenneth L. Brown (1 January 1976). People of Sal Tradition and Change in
a Moroccan City, 18301930. Manchester University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7190-
0623-4.
Jump up ^ Salma K. Jayyusi; Renata Holod; Attilio Petruccioli; Andre Raymond
(August 2008). The C