Fes the imperial city

Fès the imperial city

Founded in 789 by Moulay Idriss I st , Fès is the oldest of the imperial cities in Morocco. Its situation in the plain of Saiss, at half way between the north and the south of Morocco gives the best assets for the Idrisside city. This plain has a fertile ground and its irrigation is ensured by the Middle Atlas mountains. Its name meaning 'pickaxe' illustrates the legend according to that the pickaxe have been found in the site of the first foundations. The city is divided in 3 distinct parts : Fès el Bali, Fès el Jedid, and the new city of 1920 that marks contrast between the two old districts, both inside the imposing ramparts.

Religious and cultural capital of Morocco, Fès is crowned with its prestigious history, borrowed by the Andalusian influence present in the music, the kitchen, the art of living and in the architecture... At the end of VIII th century, persecuted by the Abbasids of Baghdad, Idriss 1st founder of the Idrisside dynasty takes refuge at the Berbers people in central Morocco. In 789, he founded his capital on the right bank of the Fès river, his young son Idriss II, takes the succession of his father at ten years old and completes work on the left bank. It will be the first Islamic city of the country welcoming several hundreds of political refugees coming from Andalusia south of Spain : Cordoba. They founded the Andalusian district in 818 where are the Andalusian mosque and the Médersa Es-Sahrij. Seven years later, expelled from Kairouan (current Tunisia), three hundred families of craftsmen and rich tradesmen, educated, accustomed to the urban life, are established in the west of the river in the district known as being of the Kairouanian, of which we owes the imposing and splendid mosque Al Qaraouiyyîn, the first university of occident which creation is elder than the Sorbonne in Paris.

The surroundings of Fès Fès is located on a fertile high plateau surrounded of the Middle Atlas. In the neighbourhoods are planted picturesque Berber villages with their markets and their souks, but also with thermal springs and modern baths. Some curiosities which deserve to be visited:

Ifrane: This village was built by the French and gives the impression to be an European vacation village. The place is the starting point of excursions in the Middle Atlas. You can go for a short walk, but also for six or seven hours If you want to visit the area with its lakes, its gorges and its cascades, it is worth to hire a guide services and to dedicate one or two weeks there, spending nights in huts or in Berber villages. In the winter, there is sufficient snow to make cross-country ski runs.

Volubilis : At one hour by car from Fès, Volubilis the old Roman city has a vast field of ruins with beautiful grounds of mosaic.

Moulay Idris : Not far from Volubilis, Moulay Idris is nestled in a mountain slope. Considered as the Holy City of Morocco, it is the principal pilgrimage place of the country. You can found there the tomb of Idris Ist, founder of the first Moroccan empire, who converted the Berber to the Islam around 788. Till 1917, Moulay Idris was prohibited to the non Muslims that is what enabled it to keep its unique traditional character in Morocco.

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