سجن قارا

Prison de Kara - Sijin Qara - Habs Kara - Habs Qara - Qara prison

Useful Information

Location:	Ismaili Qasba on Avenue Bab Marrah, Meknès (33.890952, -5.564991)
Open:	All year daily 10-17. [2024]
Fee:	Adults MAD 60. [2020]
Classification:	Cellars
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System natural light through skyholes
Dimension:	Ar=7 ha.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Prison de Kara, Avenue Bab Marrah, Meknès
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History

18th century

prison constructed.

Description

The سجن قارا (sujin qarana, Qara Prison), Prison de Kara, also known as Prison of Christian Slaves, are vast subterranean vaults in the city of Meknès. It was built during the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismail bin Sharif, Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727. He made Meknès his capital in 1672 and constructed an enormous citadel and palace complex next to its old city. This is more or less the full extent of the knowledge about this place, all the rest are legends. There are numerous, contradictory legends about the place, some are unique, others are quite common, such as the two versions of the Smile Far Connection Legend.

The prison was built by a Portuguese prisoner named Kara, who was granted freedom on the condition that he constructed a prison that could house more than 40,000 inmates. The result is a labyrinth which goes on for many kilometers, some say it covers the whole area of the city, others say it extends to the city of Taza, 160 km east of Meknès. Others say that there are three tunnels which lead towards Fes, Volubilis and the Middle Atlas. A team of French explorers attempted to explore the prison and never returned. Also, it is said that it was impossible to escape the prison despite it lacking doors and bars because of its complex labyrinthine design. The unfortunate prisoners were thrown into the prison through several holes in the ceiling. It was impossible for them to reach the 15 m high ceiling, which made it virtually impossible for inmates to escape. There is also a legend that the prison was used for Christian captives, seized by the Sallee Rovers and brought to Meknès as slave labour. When they died during the construction work, they were simply buried in the walls they were building. The prison was abandoned after the death of the Sultan, and the vaults were used to store food.

The reality is quite different. Especially the story that it was a prison is doubtful, most scholars agree that it actually was a vast storage space for the royal complex of the Kasbah from the beginning. Some say the story of the prison was invented during the French occupation, to discredit the Sultan. The prison theory is based on the fact that the arabs actually committed piracy in the Mediterranean during the 18th century. Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Salé-le-Vieux and Salé-le-Neuf (now Rabat), which supplied him with mostly European Christian slaves and weapons through their raids. The important or rich hostages from the raided ships were returned for a ransom, the poorer ones became slaves. It is estimated that around 35,000 European slaves were held throughout the 17th century on the Barbary Coast. Even the US Government was concerned by the capture of US citizens, and paid tribute to stop the attacks. At the urging of President George Washington, Congress finally voted to authorize the building of six heavy frigates and establish the United States Navy in 1794, to stop these attacks. So actually the slavery is undisputed, but the use of the vaults as a prison is. It's much more likely that the slaves were at work and not in prison. And the numbers also do not fit, there were never 40,000 prisoners, the number of slaves in the three countries Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Barbary Coast, were in total around 37,000. The story about the prison is based on the idea that it simply did not have an exit to the surface, but it is unclear when the staircase was built. However, no human remains have come to light when one of the walls crumbled away.

The vaults are now a tourist site, the entrance is located in Ismaili Qasba on Avenue Bab Marrah. The Koubet Al Khayatine or Koubba el Khayatine is a green-tiled, zellij-covered building, which served as a reception hall for ambassadors to the imperial court. A wide staircase leads down into the subterranean structure. There are three huge chambers resting on pillars 1.4 m by 3.5 m, the total area is seven hectares. The ceiling between the pillars is supported by vaults with lowered drums. There are numerous skylights, so the vaults are quite well lit, electric light is not necessary but was installed for the tourists.