The madrasas (Koranic universities) are a living testimony of the intellectual and scientific past of the city. The mosque of Los Andaluces dates from 860 and stands out for its large portico adorned with zelliges and its carved wooden cantilever.

The largest mosque is the Karaouiyine, also considered one of the oldest and most important libraries in the world, is in the heart of the city founded in 859. The old part of the city of Fez is a true open-air museum with innumerable masterpieces in its 9400 alleys, mosques, madrassas and palaces among the 10572 historic buildings. UNESCO declared it a universal heritage of humanity. Throughout its exceptional history, Fez has accumulated a rich and diversified architectural and urban heritage. Converted into the capital of the empire, it is the preferred refuge of the Andalusian Muslim immigrants and Jews who establish here the mellah (Jewish quarter).

In consecutive years it welcomes students, merchants, artists and enlightened people from all over the world. The foundation of the Al Karaouiyine university mosque in the year 857 marks the beginning of a golden age for the city. Its geographical location in the rich Saiss plain at the bottom of a small valley at the foot of the Zalagh mountain, makes it a decisive economic, political and strategic crossroads for its development and projection.įrom 817-818, two successive waves of settlement greatly influenced the fate of Fez: families expelled from Córdoba by the Umayyads created the Los Andaluces neighborhood and families of Kairouan, fleeing from the Abassides’ persecutions, create the Karaouiyine neighborhood. Fez is above all a place carefully chosen by the Idrissid dynasty, who planned it with an intelligent vision of the future. His successor, Idriss IIº in 809 starts to build his royal palace, with its mosque, kissaria, channels and defensive walls. In 789, Idriss 1º traces the limits of the enclosure of the city, “Medinat Fas”. With the refinement of its palaces, the richness of its museums, the greatness of its madrasas where the greatest sages of the Golden Age were born, the profusion of its mosques as tributes to the greatness of God… all for those who are in love with culture and the arts! Fez is an invitation to constant discovery. The old Cityīeing a living monument and an open-air museum, Fez is the first of the Moroccan Imperial Cities that concentrates and preserves the true essence of Moroccan history.

City of fez