Speaking in Dar Souiri where he came to welcome Carlos Eduardo Niemeyer, grandson of the great Brazilian architect, Mr. Azoulay highlighted “the exceptional personality of Oscar Niemeyer, whose work occupies a major place in the universal history of modern architecture and whose philosophical and moral commitment, throughout his life, made him the undisputed icon of those who had the talent not to dissociate their art and their performances from their social, ethical and civic responsibility”.
“It was firstly around these values and thanks to the interpersonal skills of my friend Fred Meyer, Ambassador of Brazil to Morocco in 2012, that I began an epistolary relationship with the great Oscar Niemeyer which very quickly and spontaneously adhered to the philosophical and cultural society project with which Essaouira chose to identify its rebirth, an adhesion which quickly translated into the drawing, conception and articulation, all signed Niemeyer, of what the future City of Arts, Culture and Heritage in Essaouira,” said the Advisor to HM the King, stressing that the great Brazilian architect refused to be paid and donated his work to Essaouira.
“It is a gesture and a generosity which gives even more relief and depth to this masterful work which was the last signed by Oscar Niemeyer before his death on December 5, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 104 “, added Mr. Azoulay, renewing to the Niemeyer family and his team “the immense gratitude of Morocco from Essaouira, now included in the exhilarating list of sites which will bear the mark and signature of Oscar Niemeyer and I do not “I have no doubt that we will also come to Essaouira to see the last work drawn and designed by the great architect before his death,” declared Mr. Azoulay.
“Walking the talent and the proactive and enthusiastic commitment of the great Moroccan architects Rachid Andaloussi and Fikri Benabdallah who will team up with the Niemeyer Cabinet to create this Souirie City in all respects marked with the seal of exception”, the Advisor to HM the Roi recalled to conclude “that with the city of Brasilia, there are more than 600 spaces which, in the world, are signed by Oscar Niemeyer and that all of them, like Essaouira tomorrow, are emblematic of the architectural gesture of Oscar Niemeyer who knew how to sublimate the poetry of the curve in the art of drawing to build and of expressing the elegance and emotion of sensuality when you are an inspired architect.”