The Catholic Church
Église des Saints-Martyrs - الكنيسة الكاثوليكية
Marrakesh's Catholic church (officially, the Église des Saints-Martyrs) was built in 1930 to serve the city's French colonial community.
The fact that the church is directly opposite a mosque is sometimes cited as an example of Morocco's religious tolerance.
The church is dedicated to the “martyr saints” – six Franciscan friars who came to Marrakesh in 1220 to preach Christianity. The sultan ordered them to desist. When they refused, he had them beheaded. They were canonized in 1481.
According to local folklore, the name of the Ville Nouvelle’s central neighbourhood, Guéliz, is a corruption of the French l’église (“the church”), referring to this very house of prayer, but that is incorrect. The neighbourhood in fact gets its name from the rocky outcrop to its northwest known as Jebel Guéliz, which in turn is derived from the outcrop’s Tamazight (Berber) name, Igiliz.