Water reflections
Columns doubled in water.
User: (WT-shared) Radouane at wts wikivoyage — Public domain · Fulvio Attisani — CC BY 3.0 · Rui Ornelas from Lisboa, Portugal — CC BY 2.0 · Radouane1 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · ffyoussef — CC BY 3.0 · Imtkkan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · R Prazeres — CC BY-SA 4.0 · R Prazeres — CC BY-SA 4.0
A half-buried stone hall beneath the citadel at the heart of El Jadida's Portuguese quarter, the city's best-known sight and part of the World Heritage Site. The hall is roughly square, about thirty-three metres a side, and its vaulted ceiling rests on five rows of stone columns in the late Gothic style known as Manueline. It was built beneath the citadel the Portuguese raised in 1514, and its first use is not known for certain: it may have been an armoury, a barracks or a granary. In 1541 it was converted into a cistern collecting rainwater through a round opening in the middle of the ceiling. Its design is credited to the architect Miguel de Arruda, while João de Castilho oversaw the building work. Its magic lies in the thin layer of water covering the floor, which mirrors the columns, the arches and the shaft of light falling from the single opening in the roof, a scene that changes through the day. That is why film-makers chose it as a location, most famously for Orson Welles' Othello. Entry is by ticket, about 60 MAD for foreign visitors per recent visitor reports and less for Moroccans, and it usually closes over midday, so check the times locally. The visit is short, around half an hour, and the hall looks its best on sunny days when the light through the opening is strongest.
Columns doubled in water.
From the single roof opening.
Stone ribs and columns.
Beneath the citadel in the Portuguese quarter, El Jadida
About half an hour; combined with a walk around the Portuguese quarter and its ramparts, allow about two hours.
