Skala de la Ville

What is on the terrace

The Skala de la Ville is an artillery platform built out over the sea at the north-west corner of the medina. It runs about 190 m from one end to the other, on two storeys. A ramp climbs from the vaults below to the terrace, which ends in a round platform with a watchtower. The cannon sit in a line between the merlons, muzzles to the ocean.

Beneath the terrace, the vaults held the garrison’s ammunition and equipment. The heritage map published in 2012 by the Junta de Andalucía and the town council places thuya marquetry workshops there. The craftsmen we follow are in our Crafts & shopping section.

The cannon are bronze and came from Spain. Most were cast in Seville or Barcelona between 1743 and 1782. Each gun is 3.25 m long with a 150 mm bore, and fired a 10-pound ball about 1,500 m. Inscriptions on the guns show their copper came from Mexico and Peru. One photo caption online calls them 16th-century Portuguese: the Ministry of Culture’s inventory says otherwise.

When to go and how to get there

No official source publishes hours or a price for the terrace. The culture ministry’s ticket portal sells one Essaouira site only, the Skala du Port (read 17 October 2026). We have not yet been to the entrance to see whether a ticket desk charges for this rampart. You reach it along rue de la Skala, 340 m and 5 minutes on foot from Place Moulay Hassan (310 m as the crow flies).

Morocco has kept GMT all year since 20 September 2026. By our calculation the sun sets over the rampart at 17:40 on 21 December and 19:47 on 21 June. Our advice: get there half an hour early. The low light along the barrels matters more than the sun going down.

Avoid mixing up the two skalas. The ticket sold online costs 60 MAD for a foreign adult and 30 MAD for a Moroccan adult or resident (read 17 October 2026). It is for the Skala du Port above the fishing harbour. It buys you nothing here.

The name, the history and what nobody has proved

The rampart goes by several names: Sqala de la qasba in the ministry’s inventory, Sqala de la Médina for UNESCO, Skala de la Ville on maps and on this site. You will also see Skala de la Kasbah, and the northern tip is sometimes catalogued on its own as the Bastion Nord. It is all one rampart. The inventory places it in the original core of the 18th-century town. ICOMOS, evaluating the medina for UNESCO, dates that town to 1765, when Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah set out to build a port there.

The ministry’s record names the text that protects the rampart: a dahir of 30 August 1924 listing it as a historic monument. The UNESCO file says the town’s fortifications have been protected since 1924. The same record rated its condition as fair in 2006. In 2023 UNESCO reported the seaward part of the walls in an advanced state of decay.

The Institut français hung outdoor exhibitions on the Sqala ramparts for its Rendez-vous de la photo in 2023 and 2024. As for Othello, the AFI confirms Orson Welles shot most of the film in Mogador but does not name this rampart. Our view: until a primary source puts a scene here, do not come for Welles. The quarter around it is on our kasbah page, and the whole circuit of walls on our guide to Essaouira’s landmarks.