The Qara prison in Meknes, an underground labyrinth full of legends

The Qara prison in Meknes was built during the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismaïl. An underground labyrinth full of stories, anecdotes, and sometimes myths…

How many legends surround the story of the prison of Qara! Located in the heart of Meknes, the place is a real time machine. It was built during the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismaïl (1672-1727), the first of the Alaouite dynasty to take power in Morocco.

The prison might hold up to 40,000 inmates

From the famous Place Lehdime to Place Lalla Aouda, the Qara prison is to the right of the Moulay Ismaïl mausoleum, on an enclosed field. Difficult to navigate in its names: sometimes it was called “prison of Christians”, sometimes “Sirdab” (“cellars”, in French). The name “Qara” was that of a Portuguese prisoner who, it is said, negotiated his freedom with the sultan if he managed to build a prison that might hold up to 40,000 people. It was done.

At first glance, only a few openings testify to the underground presence of this mysterious place. As soon as the first mazes are grazed, the heart tightens, the eyes gradually get used to the darkness; a feeling of oppression compresses the stomach. Without the rare lights scattered inside the prison, the visitor can easily get lost, caught up in the endless corridors. Moreover, inscriptions are still visible on the walls, sorts of indelible imprints of the passage of lost souls in this very gloomy place.

The prison once stretched for hundreds of kilometres, it is said. If legend is to be believed, the walls of the penitentiary stretched as far as Taza, near Fez. Built in cement, they were erected to prevent visitors from getting lost in the maze that forms this place. However, another legend says that a team of French researchers got lost there, precipitating the closure of several parts of the prison.

firmness and power

The “Christian prison” was the official prison of Sultan Moulay Ismaïl, builder of the imperial city. She represented the symbol of his firmness and his power. And for good reason, it was located a few meters from the ambassadors’ pavilion, where the negotiators met to free the sultan’s foreign hostages.

In a documentary devoted to Moulay Ismaïl, the France 2 channel even reports that the fate of a dozen French prisoners was negotiated above them in the famous pavilion. To better understand these negotiations, it is necessary to remember a part of history: During the golden age of looting, European ships and hostages were regularly captured at sea. The French sovereign had tried three times times to send missions to bring back the captives, without success.

Inside the jail. / Ph. Zaïnab Aboulfaraj

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Inside the jail. / Ph. Zaïnab Aboulfaraj

But what regarding the daily lives of prisoners?

Le Zamane magazine recounts that the hostages entered the prison by being thrown into it through a hole above the building. Ditto for the food: it was through a small opening that it reached them. The captives, condemned but not executed, did not come out alive. They slept on the floor. The lucky ones had goatskin to make their sleep less uncomfortable. Their daily life consisted of working hard, carrying very heavy bags and demolishing walls. Foreign captives had a primary role in the construction of the ramparts of the imperial city. Later, Qara prison became a kind of granary to survive the difficult conditions or crises that affected Meknes.

If you are planning to visit Qara Prison, opening hours are 9am to 12pm and then 3pm to 6pm. It takes 10 dirhams to enter the prison, and regarding 20 minutes to go around the underground labyrinth.