On this occasion, Princess Lalla Hasnaa unveiled the commemorative plaque before following explanations on the heritage of the main park of Meknes which has regained all its splendor after a complete renovation coordinated by the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection in within the framework of a partnership with the Urban Municipality of Meknes, the General Directorate of Territorial Communities, the Prefecture of Meknes, the Regional Council of Fez-Meknes and the National Agency for Water and Forests.
Princess Lalla Hasnaa also followed explanations on the fountain and the seguia, the fountain, ancestral irrigation system of the city of Meknes and the water lily pond, and the species of birds in the aviary, the sports area and the space reserved for chess games, as well as the “Fountain-Water”, “history of columns”, “Enigma of ecosystems”, “Ecosystems/Aromatic plants”, “Plant biodiversity”, and the application mobile Lahboul available via the link https://jardinlahboul.ma/
Founded in 1906, Lahboul Park, in which the inhabitants of Meknes will find the pleasure of walking and resting, is a large space of five hectares in the heart of the city, shaded by century-old trees and palm trees, with magnificent terraces created on the slopes of the Boufekrane wadi, which give it the appearance of a suspended park.
The last terrace, at its lowest point, offers a 400 meter long view overlooking the valley at the bottom of which the waters of the wadi escape.
The rehabilitation of this park, which aims to be an inclusive space also offering a platform for sporting activities, was carried out in compliance with one of the essential principles of the Foundation in its renovations: respecting the history of the place and the intentions of its creators. Also, the careful ordering of the terraces was respected and reinforced. Their coherent alignment runs parallel to the course of the wadi and is astonishingly reminiscent of the establishment of the Meudon terrace, of similar length, built in 1690 by André Le Nôtre, gardener to Louis XIV.
This arrangement allows you to appreciate the full length of the valley while offering a diagonal view towards the North over a large landscape and the Saïs plain.
For this remarkable ensemble of the city which Sultan Moulay Ismaïl made his capital, the rehabilitation work concerns the redevelopment of the park paths, the installation of fountains and ponds, the rehabilitation of the open-air stands, the development of the aviaries , the rehabilitation of plantations, walls and enclosure grilles.
Parks and gardens are always, in the spirit of the Foundation, places to raise awareness of environmental protection. An educational path has been set up for this purpose. It is made up of information and awareness points whose design was the subject of a competition of ideas, launched by the Foundation as part of its mission to raise awareness and educate students on sustainable development. from the National School of Architecture (ENA) of Fez.
This unifying initiative of the Foundation is part of a process of experimentation and evaluation of the creative potential of young ENA students, while concretizing their commitment to the environment and sustainable development.
This is how more than thirty budding architects proposed innovative and interactive module projects to enrich this educational approach.
The modules of the educational path concern several themes in this case “History of the garden”, “History of the Roman columns”, “Fountain-Water”, “Enigma of ecosystems” and “Ecosystems/aromatic plants”, as well as “Plant biodiversity” , “Ombrière” and “Insect Hotel”.
With the aim of safeguarding this site of high heritage, cultural and historical value, the Foundation has initiated, with its partners, the registration of Lahboul Park as a national heritage site.
As a reminder, Lahboul Park is the 6th to be rehabilitated by the Foundation as part of its program to restore historic parks and gardens.
The Foundation began this program with the rehabilitation in 2005 in Marrakech of the Arsat Moulay Abdeslam, a magnificent princely garden of eight hectares near the Koutoubia, then, the following year, the Exotic Gardens of Bouknadel (2005) and its four hectares of lush gardens, Jnane Sbil in Fez (2010), a centuries-old garden, L’Hermitage in Casablanca (2011) and its twelve hectares, Ghabat Chabab in Marrakech in 2022, a space of 140 hectares in the heart of the city.
Since 2007, the Foundation has also been leading the program to safeguard and develop the Palmeraie of Marrakech.
