Fés

Fés or Fez (Arabic Fas), a city in northern Morocco, capital of province and urban prefecture, on the Oued Fes. Located on the trade routes connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea south of the Sahara, Fez is an important center of commerce and industry (textiles, flour mills, oil refineries, tanneries and soap). The craft is also very active. Fez hat famous cylindrical felt rimless, is named after the city where it originated. The city, whose old quarters are classified world heritage by UNESCO, is a great religious and academic as well as a high-rise architecture center. You can admire the beautiful mosque in particular Qarawiyin (ninth century), the ramparts and the Imperial Palace.

Fez el-Bali, which is the oldest part of the city, was founded in 809 AD. AD by Idris II, and counted therefore an important Andalusian community. Became one of the first cities in Morocco under the Almoravids, it grows under the Marinids (from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century), it was the capital, with the founding of Fez el-Djedid. In the early twentieth century, the Convention of Fez (March 1912) was a French protectorate of Morocco. First capital of the kingdom in 808 under Idriss II, then twice again in the thirteenth century with the nineteenth century Merinid under the reign of Moulay Abdallah, this, etween the traditional spiritual and cultural Morocco: Fes is a city of diversity, unique by its splendor. Besides the European city built after the First World War, Fes in Fes el doubles Jédid ("New") and Fez el Bali ("Old") .In 818, hundreds of Muslim families expelled from Andalusia by Christian armies, settled on the right bank of the Oued Fes. Seven years later, 300 families kérouanaises settled on the other side. Arab Andalusian brought the art and knowledge of a civilization at the height of his glory. The Andalusian district captures all the glory and the wealth of its buildings. The palace compete with ornaments carved woodwork, bronzes chiseled Zelliges polychrome lattices, columns and carved plaster ...

Close by, the monumental gate of the Andalusian Mosque invites faithful to prayer. Indicated by the green and white minaret madrasa el Sahrij (1321) seems to trickle from its luxurious design. All madrassahs home to a paved courtyard of marble or onyx that can be seen through the doors ajar as a sanctuary of light. Through a window escape the voices of children chanting. Who gives ear hears the strings vibrate as the ties that bind a people's culture, from earth to heaven, the material in mind. To Kérouanais, it must be imposing and splendid mosque el Qaraouiyyîn at glittering emerald roof tiles. It is the oldest center of education in the Western world, before Oxford and the Sorbonne, and remains one of the main intellectual centers of the Maghreb. Its library is one of the largest in the world, houses 30,000 volumes and a superb ninth century Koran. Founded in 857 and extended until 1317, it remains an act of faith, a dream stone and fervor. When Marinids took power in the thirteenth century, they found Fez el Bali too small to hold the palace penalty for their magnificence. They construisèrent off the walls and added gardens, mosques, Islamic schools, souks ... Thus was born the New Fes or Fez el Jédid. The main street Merinid and instead Alawites constitute the nerve center. Dar el-Makhzen, the royal palace with gilded doors overlooking the plaza from the street or Bou Khessissat with houses of wood and wrought iron.

Places to visit :

The "Dar el-Makhzen" 
Access to the Royal Palace in place of Alawites. A monumental gate, restored to new, marks the official entry in this field including several palaces decorations of great delicacy of execution of the parade grounds, a menagerie, a qubba, a mosque, a madrasah and gardens closed Lalla Mina.
Bab "Es-Seba"At the north end of Main street is Bab es Seba or "door of Seven", named in honor of the seven brothers of Moulay Abdallah who succeeded to the throne in the eighteenth century. It was at this spot, in 1443, that the corpse of the Infante Ferdinand of Portugal was hanged naked for four days. His coffin remained exposed there for twenty nine years.
The Saadian Tombs
Discovered in 1917 and restored by the Department of Fine Arts, the mausoleum houses the body of a sixty Saadian, including el Mansour, his successors and his family. The building consists of three rooms. The most remarkable is the room where twelve columns are buried Ahmed el Mansour, his son and his grandson, son. This centerpiece, with its columns of Italian marble and its dome cedar wood, is a very fine example of Moorish decorative art. Outside, are the graves of soldiers and servants. You can relax in the garden of the necropolis, a real haven of peace.
Madrasa Ben Youssef
Madrasa Ben Youssef is one of the most interesting monuments of the city. Built around 1570 by the Saadi, restored in 1960, this Koranic school is the largest in the Maghreb. It could accommodate up to 900 students in only 132 cells! Unusually, the rooms upstairs have windows overlooking seven small "courtyards" inland. Moreover, unlike the Arab-Andalusian architectural tradition, some of its opening facing the medina. The decor is much more classic and will not fail to admire the sculptures in cedar wood, and stucco Zelliges that adorn the monument.
Bab Bou Jeloud
Located west of Dar El-Batha, the chamber door opens Fez el-Bali. Built in the twelfth century and restored around 1913, it is blue enamel (color of Fez) on the outside and green (the color of Islam) on the inside.


Old Méchouar
Are Bab Seba opens on the Old Méchouar, a former parade ground where the royal troops parading past. The people of Fez el-Jadid go there in the evening around storytellers, jugglers and snake charmers.


Grand Talâa
The "Big Up" is one of two main axes of the medina. It is advised not to stray too far away because it is easy to get lost in the huge maze of alleys!


The square-Najjarine
Place is named after the souk Joiners located in an alley below. Fountain, with its mosaic flooring of glazed earthenware, is beautiful and unusual. At the back of the place, "fondouk" (guesthouse), recently converted into a mosque, opens with a facade decoration of extreme wealth. It probably dates from the eighteenth and was fully restored by UNESCO.
Madrasa Bou Inania
Built between 1350 and 1357 by Sultan Abu Inan, this was the last madrasa built by Marinids. Wide, it offers under multiple testimonies Merinid architecture (set in bronze, marble and onyx, cedar wood, topped with stalactites windows ...). This madrasah is the only religious building in Morocco open to non-Muslims.
Zawiya Moulay Idriss II 
First holy place of Fez. Access is forbidden to non-Muslims. But going around the left from the door of women, one can see by one of the openings the courtyard of the mosque, and the room housing the tomb of the patron saint and founder of the city, Idriss II.

Karaouiyne Mosque
Founded in 857 in the district of Kairouan refugees and enlarged in the XII by the sovereign Almoravid Ali Ben Youssef, the Karaouine mosque once housed up to twenty thousand faithful. It became, therefore, one of the largest mosques in the Maghreb. Renowned university, it is also the oldest religious education center. From the front door, tourists non-Muslims can see the large courtyard and two kiosks with marble columns reminiscent of the Court of Lions Alhambra palace in Granada.
The souks 
Ali Baba's cave true paradise for merchants, perhaps there you will find hidden treasures ...



Madrasah al Atarin
This madrasah small is considered one of the finest in Fez. Built in 1325 by Sultan Abu Said It contains treasures of art Merinid. The roof of the madrasa provides an interesting perspective on the inner courtyard of the nearby mosque Karaouiyne and allows to observe life on the terraces of the city.

Mosque Andalusian quarter
You can access this area by tanneries Chouara or Bab Ftouh. Founded in the ninth century., The Andalusian Mosque was originally a simple oratory. It is famous for its great north gate, adorned with tiles and a carved wooden canopy.