Rabat – At the World Heritage Week Program in Sharjah, UAE, Algerian authorities curiously posed with Marrakech’s iconic Koutoubia mosque.
Footage has emerged of some Algerian authorities posing before a miniaturized Koutoubia mosque with “Algerian Cultural Week” captioned in the background.
The Sharjah Institute for Heritage, which organized the World Heritage Week event, did not respond to MWN’s inquiry on the picture.
Built in the 12th century, Koutoubia mosque is the tallest mosque in Marrakech, making it an “exceptional” and “amazing” sight that easily stands out in a city already filled with eye-catching sights.
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Overlooking the city, especially the medina (walled city), with its uniquely shaped minaret, Koutoubia has been reportedly used by millions of tourists visiting Marrakech as a reference point when trying to find their way around the sinuous and confusing avenues of the medina.
While Algerian authorities have not explained their reason for seemingly presenting Marrakech’s landmark mosque as “Algerian heritage,” the overall description of the Sharjah event pointed to a perception that Algeria shared a history with the site of the Koutoubia mosque.
According to the event’s organizers, the Algerian heritage week aimed to show “the depth of history” by offering “exclusive insights on Algerian science, knowledge, and civilization.”
The mosque has been on UNESCO’s world heritage list since 1985.
Perhaps that is why online responses to circulated footage showing the iconic mosque as part of Algeria tended to concede that, Algeria, not known for its cultural landmarks, borrowed Morocco’s for a week to sell its own cultural image.
