Cathédrale de Sacré-Coeur, Casablanca

4 more images

Just off the square, look out for two sparkling white towers and a spiky roof...this is the Cathedrale du Sacre Coeur, an odd yet beautiful Moroccan-colonial building. The first time I came to visit, the gates were locked and I could only admire the building from the outside (still worth seeing for the architecture). But it impressed me enough to make a return visit, when luckily the door was open. The guardien apologized for not having an art exhibition on show, as they were preparing for the next one, but I was free to have a look round.

Since the French left, it has been used as a school and a theatre, and is now an art gallery of sorts, so there's not much left inside to suggest it was a church...the walls have all been painted white, and it is basically an empty space now, waiting for some art to cover the walls. But one thing does remain...the stained glass windows, which are really quite stunning. Some of the scenes are Biblical, but most of the windows are in the colours of different flags from around the world.

Entry costs nothing, unless you fancy climbing the towers, but more about that in the next tip...