The Moroccan lighthouses Qaydouma were built in 1864 by order of the Moroccan Sultan Muhammad bin Abd al-Rahman, after the most famous sinking incident known to the Brazilian educational frigate in the region, which claimed the lives of 250 cadets in 1860.
The lighthouse, which is a maritime heritage belonging to the Directorate of Ports and the public domain at the Ministry of Equipment and Water, is a meeting place for the waves of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean together, as it is the last point in the north of the African continent overlooking Gibraltar in the north.
Criteria and conditions for granting the title
- The Directorate of Ports and the Maritime Public Domain, as a national member representing the Kingdom of Morocco in the International Association for Maritime Signaling, submitted in February 2022 the nomination file for this lighthouse for the Heritage Lighthouse Award, in addition to 41 competing nomination files from twenty member countries of the aforementioned international association.
- The Director of the Directorate of Ports and the Maritime Public Domain at the Ministry of Equipment and Water, Sanaa Al-Amrani, confirmed that “the Council of the International Association for Maritime Signaling takes into account three main criteria or conditions for granting it the title of a world heritage lighthouse.”
- Al-Omrani explained, in her statement to “Ski News Arabia”, that the first of these conditions is related to “the heritage character of this lighthouse; that is, its distinctive architectural character, its historical importance, and its cultural role that the lighthouse plays.”
- As for the second criterion, it is related to “the level of maintenance and preservation of the lighthouse by the competent authorities, including the lighthouse building and its internal equipment, in addition to the external environment of the lighthouse,” she added.
- The official at the Ministry of Equipment and Water continued that the third condition, which is the most important for the directorate, lies in “opening the lighthouse to the public, through the possibility of access to visit the lighthouse by the public, in addition to organizing awareness and educational activities related to introducing lighthouses, marine signaling, and marine culture in general.”
Preparing the lighthouse and opening it to visitors
The lighthouse of Cap Spartel and its surroundings have been covered in recent years by development works within the framework of the strategy of the Directorate of Ports and the Maritime Public Domain to raise the value of this landmark and to preserve the cultural heritage associated with the lighthouses.
The Director of Ports and the Maritime King, Sanaa Al-Amrani, records that crowning this marine heritage landmark with the world title, “is an international recognition of the importance of this lighthouse, and it is also the culmination of years of work to rehabilitate this marine landmark, prepare it, rehabilitate it, and open it for visits in partnership with the private sector.”
In this context, the head of the Observatory for Environmental Protection and Historical Monuments in Tangier believes that “the lighthouse is still not a strong attraction, and is not a major point in the city’s tourist routes, especially outside the summer season, given its location and the services it provides in the way it is currently being offered.”
However, “whatever the observations may be, Cap Spartel has recently known a praiseworthy effort that could lead to better results at the level of investing its historical value and its distinguished location, to perform jobs that are more profitable in terms of cultural, historical and even financial terms as well,” Jannati continues in his interview with “Sky News Arabia”. “.
Rare coastal environmental scenes
The site of Cape Spartel, which adds beauty to the lighthouse of the capital of the Bughaz Tangier, is “one of the rarest coastal environmental scenes, in a special harmony between the forested continental component and the relatively deep marine component,” explains the head of the Environmental Observatory and Historical Monuments in Tangier.
The same source added, “Because of the privileged climate provided by the geographical location of Cape Spartel, in terms of the influences of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, this ecosystem is considered among the most important hotspots in terms of plant and animal biodiversity in Tangier.”
That is why “pine trees constitute the main component of the Cape Spartel ecosystem, which also includes several local or cultivated plant species such as eucalyptus trees, in addition to animals, animals and insects, which increase the biological diversity and ecological role of the site, which indicates its richness and exceptional value,” the actor concludes. In the environmental and heritage field.
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