Welcome back friends. In our previous blog we explored greater Rabat, Morocco’s capital, and when digging into the area’s history we discovered the dubious role of the Dutch seafarers in medieval piracy.
In this story we explore FEZ, the spiritual and cultural capital of Morocco.
Traveling by train in Morocco is surprisingly easy. We bought our tickets the day before since the coaches tend to be full but everyone has an assigned seat and there was no pushing and shoving when stepping on the train. The direct journey from Salé to Fez took a little under three hours.
We booked a room in Palais Fes Yahya, a lovely family run riad, or townhouse, in the heart of the medina. We explained in detail what a Tunisian “Dar” or a Moroccan “Riad” is in: leaving-sicily-for-tunisia. After a warm welcome and a cup of incredibly sweet mint tea we disappear in the “world’s largest maze”, an appropriate nick-name for one of the few truly functional ancient medina’s still to be found in Morocco.
Fez was founded in the 8th century by Idris 1 who belonged to a dynasty descending from the prophet Mohammed. The city is centred around the Fez River and Arab immigrants from Tunisia settled mainly in the Qarawiyyin quarters on the NW river bank and the immigrants from Al-Andalus (Portugal, Spain) settled in the Andalusiyyin quarters along the SE river bank.
It was in the 11th century when the Almoravid dynasty united the two settlements into what is today’s Medina of Fez El Bali (Old Fez). Under Almoravid rule, the city gained a reputation for religious scholarship and mercantile activity.
Walking in the Qarawiyyin quarters we approach Seffarine. The area gets its name from the coppersmiths who still practise their craft here today.
Artisans and their apprentices produce and repair pots, pans, buckets, incense burners, trays, teapots, tea and sugar boxes, kettles, couscous steamers, and more.
It was founded in 857–859 as a mosque by Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a rich merchant from Kairouan, Tunisia, and subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Islamic world. To find out about Kairouan click leaving-sicily-for-tunisia.
We passed a few nougat stands. Nougat is a mixture of honey, egg-whites, nuts and sometimes dried fruit. It originated in the area of Baghdad and Aleppo and was introduced to N-Africa and to Europe by the Arabs. The Europeans then developed their own recipes.
The Chouara tannery is the largest of the three remaining historical tanneries in Fez and is a major tourist attraction. The whole tanning process is still carried out entirely by hand going back at least 1000 years. The most notable feature of Chouara and the other local tanneries is the numerous stone vats filled with different colored dyes and white liquids.
Hides of cows, sheep, goats, and camels are processed by first soaking in a series of the white liquids – made from various mixtures of cow urine, pigeon feces, quicklime (CaO), salt, and water – in order to clean and soften the skins. This process takes two to three days and prepares the hides to absorb the dyes. The stench is indescribable and for us it is incomprehensible that people can live and work here.
The white liquid is washed out in this wooden drum before the hides go into the stone vats with coloured dyes.
This mosque-mausoleum houses the tomb of one of the city’s great saints: Sidi Ahmed Tijani, originally from Ain Madi, Algeria. His teachings spread quickly in the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa. Fez, henceforth, became an essential pathway for pilgrims on their way to Mecca.
Well…..the shape of the street signs is helpful. A square means you are on a through road. A hexagon means it becomes eventually a dead end. Convenient to know. “Spammers” deliberately point you in the wrong direction, only to offer their services to help you out when you are stuck. For a fee of course.
For the start of our second day tour we walk to the Western side of the medina where we find Bab Bou Jeloud. The current gate was built by the French colonial administration in 1913 to serve as the grand entrance to the old city.
The Fortifications of Fez comprise a complex circuit of ramparts and gates surrounding Fes el-Bali (the old medina) and Fes el-Jdid (New Fez, the Merinid Royal Citadel), two urban agglomerations that compose old Fez. They also include a number of kasbahs (citadels) and forts which were built both to protect and to control the city.
We re-enter the city via Bab Mahrouk, the Almohad-era most western gate of the city and walk along the Southern wall of Kasbah An-Nouar.
Fez reached its zenith in the Merinid era (13th–15th centuries), earning its status as political capital. Numerous new madrasas and mosques were constructed, many of which survive today. The most famous madrasa is Bou Inania, the only madrasa in Morocco that also functioned as a congregational mosque (mosque for hosting Friday noon prayers). It is widely acknowledged as a high point of Merinid architecture.
The name of the madrasa comes from Ali Abu Inan, who was the son of the Merinid Sultan Abu Al-Hassan who is buried in Chellah (discover-rabats-rich-history/)
Opposite the Madrasa is Dar al-Magana, a house whose street facade features a not fully understood hydraulic clock. The practical importance of the clock lay in its use for determining the correct times of prayer, and the system was overseen by the mosque’s muwaqqit (timekeeper). The structure is believed to have also been built by Abu Inan alongside his madrasa complex.
The facade of the building has 12 consoles, each supporting a brass bowl, as can be seen on old photographs. Above these are twelve windows, above which in turn are two rows of projecting wooden corbels. The uppermost row of consoles are the longest and presumably supported a canopy similar to that of the madrasa.
It is believed that the clock’s movement was facilitated by a small cart that moved horizontally behind the twelve doors. One end of the cart was connected to a rope with a hanging weight, while the other end was connected to a rope with a floating weight placed on the surface of a regularly draining water reservoir. Every hour, one of the doors would open simultaneously as a metal ball was released into one of the brass bowls sounding the hourly signal.
The facade of the building has been restored although a canopy is still missing, leaving the woodcarvings to the elements. The brass bowls are removed “for research” while they are trying to figure out how the mechanism actually worked.
After lunch we continue along the Talaa Kebira and enter another Fondouk. More people were working in Fondouk Tazi where a wider variety of instruments was made.
In the Merinid period the Jewish inhabitants of Fes el-Bali were all moved to a new district called Fes el-Jdid. The district was first known as Hims, but also by the name Mellah (salt) due to the presence of a salt warehouse. This name was retained as the name of the Jewish quarter. This was the first “mellah” in Morocco; a name and phenomenon that came to be replicated in many other cities.
Many historians, attribute the transfer of the Jewish population specifically to the “rediscovery” of Idris II’s body in his old mosque, the Zawiya of Moulay Idris II, at the center of the city in 1437. The expulsion was enforced to all of Fes el-Bali because it was given the status of a “holy” city as a result of the discovery, and all non-Muslims had to leave.
Interior of the Synagogue. The first construction has been dated to the late 17th century. It was destroyed and rebuild a couple of times and the latest renovation was completed in 1999. The wall at the far end contains the Hekhal or Torah Ark.
A close up of the Hekhal or Torah Ark, an ornamental chamber that houses the Torah scrolls, a handwritten copy of the Torah (yellow document bottom center), meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The hatch in the foreground, when opened, provides light to a subterranean vaulted chamber reached by a narrow staircase. (video below).
The mikveh is a bath used for ritual immersion to achieve ritual purity.
Opposite the Torah ark is a raised alcove, separated from the main prayer space by a wooden screen elaborately carved with a series of arches. It was intended as a seating area for the congregation’s more distinguished members. The grey metal structure center left, is a “bima”, an elevated platform used for Torah reading during services,
The front gates of the Royal Palace today, dating from 1969 to 1971. Its original foundation dates back to the foundation of Fes el-Jdid (“New Fez”), the royal citadel of the Merinid dynasty, in 1276 CE. Most of the palace today dates from the ‘Alawi era (17th-20th centuries) and is still being used by Morocco’s rulers when visiting Fez. It is not open to the public.
Bab al-Amer or ‘gate of order’ was the southwestern entrance to Fes el-Jdid, the royal city founded in 1276 by the Marinids west of Fes el Bali. The area was demolished by the French who considered the gate too small for modern traffic.
This concludes our visit to this fascinating city, that oozes authenticity. We realise the amount of effort and money it will take to preserve the character of this remarkable city and we hope they will succeed. Income from tourism will definitely help and we think you should put a visit to Fez on your bucket list.
The next place we will visit is Casablanca, but that is subject to another blog.
Thank you for reading our stories, Liza and Frits.