Fez — The Casablanca Museum of Photography and Visual Arts will officially open its doors on June 23, marking the long-awaited launch of a major cultural venue in the city’s old medina.
The museum, now under the National Museums Foundation, is located near La Sqala in a building designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The site was transferred to the foundation after a convention signed on January 30 at the Wilaya of Casablanca.
A museum rooted in Casablanca’s old medina
The building stands on the site of the former Foundouk Lebbadi, a 19th-century caravanserai once used to host traveling merchants. The project was developed as part of the third phase of Casablanca’s medina rehabilitation plan, which ran from 2018 to 2023.
Rather than erase the history of the site, the museum was designed to build around it. Existing stone arcades, colonnades, and original walls were preserved or reconstructed using materials recovered on location.
Architect Houda Aourarhi worked alongside Ando on the project, describing the goal as preserving the memory of the place while giving it a contemporary form.
Photography, training, and visual memory
The museum is expected to host permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as training spaces, a library, a media library, studios, and technical areas dedicated to photography.
H+E Architecture, which worked on the project, lists the building as the “Maison de la Photographie” in Casablanca’s medina, with Tadao Ando Architect & Associates named among the associated architects.
The opening will also feature an inaugural exhibition. Artist Fatima Mazmouz’s website lists the exhibition “Sidi Abderahmane – Bouzbir” at the Casablanca Museum of Photography and Visual Arts from June 23 to December 31, curated by Soufiane Er-Rahoui, director of the National Photography Museum in Rabat.
The opening will coincide with the fifth edition of “Night of Museums and Cultural Spaces,” giving the launch a wider national cultural setting.
