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Monday, May 2, 2011

Places to Visit in Fez The Spiritual Capital City Of Morocco

Fes or Fez (Arabic Fas), a city of northern Morocco, capital of province and urban prefecture, on the Oued Fez. Located on trade routes linking the Atlantic 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. The fez, the famous fedora and cylindrical without rim, owes its name to the city where it originated. The city, whose old quarters are classified world heritage by UNESCO, is a major religious center and university and a high-rise architecture. This can be particularly admire the beautiful mosque Qarawiyin (ninth century), the ramparts and the palace.
Fez El-Bali, which is the oldest district of the city, was founded in 809 AD. BC by Idris II, and therefore a large community of Andalusia. Become one of the first cities in the Almoravids of Morocco, as it enlarges Mérinides (thirteenth to fifteenth century), it was the capital, with the founding of Fez el-Jedid. 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, and twice again in the thirteenth century with the nineteenth century Merinids and the reign of Moulay Abdallah, ce, ntre spiritual and cultural traditional Morocco: Fez is a city of multiple single splendor. Furthermore the European city built after the First World War, Fez Fes el splits into Jedid ("New") and Fes el Bali ("the Old"). In 818, several hundred Muslim families driven from Andalusia by Christian armies, settled on the right bank of Wadi Fez. Seven years later, 300 families settled kérouanaises on the other side. The Arabs brought the art of Andalusia and know of a civilization in its heyday. The Andalusian district takes its splendor and profusion of its buildings. The palaces vie with ornaments carved furniture, bronzes, carvings, polychrome zelliges, lattices, columns and sculpted plaster ...
Nearby, the monumental gateway to the Andalusian Mosque calls the faithful to meditation. Indicated by green and white minaret, the madrasa el Sahrij (1321) seems to trickle from his luxurious decoration. All madrassas are home to a courtyard paved with marble or onyx that sees through doors ajar as a sanctuary of light. Escape through a window of children's voices chanting. Who listens hears the strings vibrate as the ties that bind a people's culture, from earth to heaven, material in mind. For Kerouane, it must be impressive and splendid mosque el Qaraouiyyine at glittering emerald-tiled roof. It is the oldest center of learning in the Western world, Oxford and the Sorbonne before and still today one of the main intellectual centers in the Maghreb. Its library is one of the world's largest, houses 30,000 volumes and a superb ninth-century Koran. Founded in 857 and extended until 1317, it remains a leap of faith, a dream of stone and fervor. When Merinids took power in the thirteenth century, they found Fes el Bali too small to contain the palace worthy of their magnificence. They construisèrent off the walls and added gardens, mosques, Koranic schools, souks ... Thus was born New Fes or Fez el Jedid. The main street of the place and Merinids Alawites constitute the hub. 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 by the position of Alawi. A monumental gate, restored to nine, marks the official entry of this area includes several palaces decorations of great workmanship, places of arms, 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", so 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, the corpse of the Infante Ferdinand of Portugal was hung naked for four days. His coffin remained there for twenty nine years exposed.


The tombs Saadian


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 and his son and his little son. This centerpiece, with its columns of Italian marble and its dome carved cedar wood, is a fine example of Moorish decorative art. Outside, there are the graves of soldiers and servants. You can relax in the garden of the cemetery, a veritable haven of peace. 


Madrassah ben Youssef
The Madrassah ben Youssef is one of the most interesting monuments of the city. Built in 1570 by Saadi, restored in 1960, the Koranic school is the largest in the Maghreb. It could accommodate up to 900 students enrolled in only 132 cells! Unusually, the rooms upstairs have windows overlooking seven small "courtyards" home. Moreover, unlike the Arab-Andalusian architectural tradition, some of its opening overlooking the medina. The decor is much more conventional and we will not fail to admire the sculptures in cedar, stucco and zelliges that adorn the monument. 


Bab Bou Jeloud
Located west of Dar Al-Batha, the enclosure door opens to Fez el-Bali. Built in the twelfth century and restored around 1913, she is blue enamel (color of Fes) outside and green (color of Islam) on the inside.
Old Mechouar
Bab-Es Seba opens Old Mechouar, a former parade ground where the royal troops paraded past. The people of Fes el-Jadid meet there at night around the storytellers, jugglers and snake charmers.
Grand Talaa
The "Big Up" is one of two main axes of the medina. It is recommended not straying too far because it is easy to get lost in the huge maze of streets!
The square-Nejjarine
The square is named after the souk of Carpenters located in an alley below. Fountain, with its covering mosaic glazed earthenware, is splendid and unusual. At the end of the square, the "fondouk" (guest house), recently transformed into a mosque, opens with a facade decorated with extreme wealth. It probably dates from the eighteenth and was completely restored by UNESCO. 


Madrasah Bou Inania
Built between 1350 and 1357 by Sultan Abu Inan, the madrasa was the last built by the Merinids. Wide, it offers in terms of multiple stories of architecture Merinid (set in bronze, marble and onyx, cedar paneling, windows topped with stalactites ...). This madrasa is currently the only religious building in Morocco open to non-Muslims. 


The zaouia of Moulay Idriss II
First saint of Fez. Access is prohibited to non-Muslims. But going around the left from the door of women, can be seen by either opening the courtyard of the mosque, then the room housing the tomb of the founder and patron saint of the city, Idriss II.
Mosque Karaouiyne
Founded in 857 in the district of refugees Kairouan, then enlarged in the twelfth sovereign Almoravid Ali Ben Youssef Mosque Karaouine Formerly home to twenty thousand faithful. It became, therefore, one of the largest mosques in the Maghreb. Renowned university, it is also the oldest center for religious education. From the entrance, tourists non-Muslims can see the large courtyard and two kiosks with marble columns reminiscent of the Court of Lions Alhambra Palace in Granada. 


Souks 


True cave of Ali Baba, a paradise for merchants, perhaps you will find hidden treasures ...

 
The Madrasah al Atarin
This small madrassah is considered one of the finest in Fez. Built in 1325 by Sultan Abu Said, it contains art treasures Merinid. The roof of the madrasa provides an interesting perspective on the inner courtyard of the mosque Karaouiyne neighbor, and allows to observe life on the terraces of the city. The mosque in the neighborhood of Andalus
You can find this area by the tanneries Chouara or Bab Ftouh. Founded in the ninth century, the Andalusian Mosque was originally a mere oratory. It is famous for its great north gate, decorated with tiles and a carved wooden canopy. 


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