Building the Moroccan Court

The Met
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2015–2021
YouTube
1.6M views · 13 years ago · documentary · evergreen

A Met Museum video on building the Moroccan Court, in which Moroccan craftsmen make and install traditional mosaic tilework and carving for the museum. It documents the handwork behind the finished room.

HN people point to it as a good record of craftsmen taking pride in their work, and as a look at how traditional tiles are made.

“Here’s a great video [0][17min] documenting the Met Museum’s commissioning of moroccan mosaics”
Interiors & exhibition designArchitecture
#moroccancourt#zellige#tilework#craft#themet

4 comments from Hacker News

j
@jazzyjackson2021 · in “Antikythera Mechanism: An ancient 'computer' that 'shouldn't exist' [video]”
from one angle, the church spends money for monumental purposes. But I’m not of the opinion that you can just spend your way to those cathedrals: the workmen (freemasons in the original sense) have to believe they are giving glory to god. Here’s a great video [0][17min] documenting the Met Museum’s commissioning of moroccan mosaics, by the end you can see the craftsmen taking great pride in their work, above and beyond what they’re paid to do, carving “allah” over and over out of religious dedication. (just want to push back on the notion that religion is all about manipulating people with your power, the crimes of the vatican notwishstanding) [0] ▶ this video
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j
@jacobolus2016 · in “Islamic art inspires stretchy, switchable materials”
Wow. Now imagine tiling the floor, walls, ceiling, and outside façade of a mosque using such handmade tiles. Insane amounts of human labor involved. Your video sucked me into watching videos about tilemaking. :-) This one is kind of neat: ▶ this video
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j
@jacobolus2016 · in “Building the Moroccan Court (2013)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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d
@donedonedone2015 · in “Zellige”
The Moroccan government is actively investing in preserving and promoting Moroccan crafts all over the world[1]. They helped design Walt Disney World Resort's Morocco Pavillon in Florida. [1] ▶ this video [2] link)
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