Chellah

Chellah is two ruined settlements stacked on the same slope. The lower part is Sala Colonia, a Roman port town with a forum, a triumphal arch, a main street and the outlines of shops and baths still legible in the ground. Above and around it the Marinid sultans of the fourteenth century built a walled royal necropolis, with a monumental gate, a mosque, a zawiya and tombs, and the two sit together without much separating them. The site has been left half-wild: figs and bananas grow through the masonry, an eel pool sits below the tombs, and a colony of storks nests on the minaret and the highest walls, clattering all through the spring. It is included in the Rabat World Heritage inscription and is the quietest major site in the city.

History

Neo-Punic finds from as early as the 3rd century BC suggest a small trading post here, and the settlement on the Bou Regreg was called Shalat, from the Punic word for rock; in the 1st century BC, under the Mauretanian kings, Sala grew on terraces above the valley, with a temple whose royal portrait statues suggest it may have been a dynastic sanctuary of Juba II and Ptolemy. After Ptolemy's death in 40 AD Rome annexed the region, and the Roman port of Sala Colonia, with its main street, forum and triumphal arch, was a municipium by the mid-2nd century, before it was abandoned in late antiquity. The Marinids made the site their dynastic necropolis: Sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub buried his wife Umm al-'Izz here in 1284-85, and Abu al-Hasan finished the main gate in July 1339, enclosing the tombs with walls and a religious complex. The necropolis declined from the 15th century, many of its buildings fell into ruin after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and excavations in the 20th century uncovered the Roman town (Wikipedia, Chellah).

The main sights

• The Roman forum - the paved civic centre and street plan of Sala Colonia.
• The Marinid gate - the monumental fourteenth-century entrance with flanking bastions.
• The minaret and storks - a tiled minaret carrying a permanent stork colony.
• The overgrown gardens - figs, bananas and wildflowers growing through the ruins.

When to go

Spring, when the site is green, the storks are on the nests and the temperature is mild. Late afternoon light is best on the gate and minaret. Parts of the site have been closed for restoration in recent years, so check locally before making a special trip.

Good to know

Interpretation is poor for a site with two thousand years in it, and without a guide the Roman half is hard to read. The paths are uneven, steep in places and muddy after rain. Storks are loud and messy. Restoration works have periodically fenced off large sections, and the entrance charge does not change when they do.

Nearby

The Kasbah of the Udayas, the Hassan Tower and the Rabat medina are all in the same city.

Key facts