Borj Bel Kari Museum

The museum of pottery of the Rif and the anterior Rif is organized in an Alawite stronghold knowns under the title Borj Bel Kari. It used to be a part of the Ismaelien wall that was constructed by the Sultan Moulay Ismail (1672­-1727) who used to have an important role in the defensive system of the city. Considering its historical and architectural importance, Borj Bel Kari was classified as a historical monument in 1932, as well as the ramparts that contain the Agdal of Meknes City.

In 2003, Borj Bel Kari was organized as a museum after the renovation work and it was inaugurated by his royal Highness Moulay Rachid in July 2004 and was opened to the public the same year.

The Museum houses pottery collections of the Rif and the anterior Rif region, that was constituted in 2003 thanks to the exchanges between museums and the acquisitions of the pottery's workshops.

The collections

The journey of the visit is both thematic and chronological. It allows to discover the technological evolution and the fabrication procedures of the Rif pottery since the prehistoric period until nowadays.

The visit starts on the right of the entrance with archaeological ceramic, in order to discover afterwards the current pottery in the halls of the museum. It finishes by the reconstitution of a pottery workshop.

The permanent collection is composed of pre historical, vintage and Islamic pottery, and of potteries coming from different geographical zones of Morocco.

The first section offers a historical and archaeological presentation of the ceramic of the Rif and the pre-Rif distributed on three halls. The visitor has the opportunity to get familiarised with the characteristics of the prehistoric ceramic, through the observation of the objects of several shapes, modeled or crafted and enriched with decorations.

A second hall exposes the pottery of the ceramic that dates back to the pre-Islamic period, and a third hall houses the Islamic ceramic, especially the green ceramic.

As for the second section, it is entirely devoted to the current and old workshops of pottery.
Some pottery and ceramic pottery coming from five regions (Zerhoun and Meknes, Oued Laou, Ouazzane and Sless, Kariat Ba Mohamed and Tsoul), are being exposed.