The Hassan II Mosque (Arabic: مسجد الحسن الثاني, French: Grande Mosquée Hassan II) is a mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. It is the largest mosque in Africa and the 3rd largest in the world. Its minaret is the world’s second tallest minaret at 210 meters (689 ft). Completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau and built by Bouygues. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean; worshippers can pray over the sea but there is no glass floor looking into the sea. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside ground.
