The City in The Islamic World: Medieval Town Planning & The Preservation of Architectural Heritage in Fez
Fez (Fès, Arabic Madinat Fâs) is a city in northern Morocco located at the north-eastern edge of the rich plain of the Sais at about 18.6 miles (30 km) north of the Middle Atlas Mountains, renowned for their excellent cedar wood. Fez’s population rose from 70,645 inhabitants (1,500 Europeans) in 1921 to 179,400 inhabitants (15,800 Europeans) in 1952. In the late 1970s, there were nearly 180,000 inhabitants living in the historic quarter with an average population density of 650 inhabitants per hectare. Water is abundant; Oued Fez (medieval Wadi al-Jawahir or River of Pearls), a tributary of the Oued Sebou, provided an ample and secure water supply for homes and industries (tanneries, pottery workshops, mills, textile dyeing) throughout the Middle Ages.
In 789 CE, Idris I, a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, built Madinat Fâs on the right bank of the Oued Fez to serve as his dynastic capital and displace Walila (Roman Volubilis). Twenty years later (809 CE), his son, Idris II, built al-‘Âliya (The Sublime) on the opposite side of the river. Shortly afterward (818 CE), 8,000 families sought refuge in Madinat Fâs after having been expelled from Al-Andalus by the Umayyads of Cordoba. And 2,000 families, expelled from Kairouan (al-Qayrawan in Tunisia), came to settle in Al-‘Âliya. These events will mark the urban and social history of Fez for centuries to come. They gave rise to two distinct and often times rival “towns”: ‘Adwat al-Andalus (the Andalusian Quarter) on the site of Madinat Fâs and ‘Adwat al-Qarawiyyin (al-Qarawiyyin Quarter) on that of Al-‘Âliya. Each quarter had its own fortifications, mosques, markets, and urban tradition. The refugees from Kairouan brought the high culture and the sophisticated urban and artistic tradition of Ifrikiyya (modern-day Tunisia). While their Andalusian “neighbors” altered the Amazigh character of the original foundation of Idris I, their quarter retained a rural mark.
The Almoravids’ (1054-1146 CE) passage witnessed the building of several bridges over the Oued Fez to facilitate the movement of people and goods.Although Fez lost its status as dynastic capital to Marrakech, its urban and economic growth was the least hindered under its new masters. The Almoravids regulated the course of the Oued Fez and provided the city with a sophisticated water distribution and sewage system. With the help of Andalusian artisans, they transformed the Djam‘ al-Qarawiyyin from a modest sanctuary to the city’s main congregational mosque and a stellar example of Hispano-Moorish architecture.
The Marinid dynasty (1244-1465 CE) had a lasting mark on the city’s urban-architectural history; in addition to building a whole new district (Fas Djadid), the Marinids initiated an elaborate architectural, artistic, and intellectual program by building several madrasa or religious schools of higher learning (e.g., the Madrasa ‘Attarin and the Madrasa Abu ‘Inaniyya) mostly in the vicinity of the Qarawiyyin mosque. Fez became the intellectual and spiritual capital of Morocco thereafter. The Jewish population, who settled in Fas al-Bali under Idris II in exchange for an annual poll tax of 30,000 dinârs, was relocated under the Marinids to the new district of Fas Djadid.
In 1912, with the establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco, Lyautey, the French Résident-Général of Morocco, built a new city (la Ville Nouvelle) south of Fas Djadid. As the author stated elsewhere, “the building of the ville nouvelle (or European quarter) is arguably the most important moment in Morocco’s twentieth-century urban history; a quarter specifically designed to respond to two structuring principles of French colonial urban planning: separation and modernity (…). Several arguments were put forward to justify the colonists’ categorical position in keeping the local element at bay from the ville nouvelle; their tone varied from condescending paternalism to outright racism” (Ennahid, 2022: 360). In 1981, the Medina of Fez was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In a previous work, the author argued that medieval town planning and urban life in Fez was one that was deeply rooted in a set of rules and guidelines at the heart of which lies a fundamental principle: a distinct separation between the public sphere and the family sanctum (Ennahid, 2002). To fully understand the inner working of this principle, the author deconstructed the urban fabric of medieval Fez into four hierarchical levels of settlements progressing from the most intimate scale (the nuclear family) to broader family/social contexts: 1) the courtyard house; 2) the house compound; 3) the quarter; and 4) the city. Access to each of these four hierarchical levels of settlements is monitored/regulated using a set of mechanisms of increasing architectural complexity (e.g., bent-axis entryway, cul-de-sac, to mention a few). For a more detailed discussion of medieval town planning in Fez, the reader is invited to consult the author’s previous work entitled: Access Regulation in Islamic Urbanism: The Case of Medieval Fès. In The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 119-134, 2002.
The declaration of the city of Fez as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 was a catalyst of several architectural heritage preservation projects conducted under the supervision of the Agence pour la Dédensification et la Réhabilitation de la Médina de Fès (established in 1989 and now called the Agence Pour Le Développement et la Réhabilitation de la Médina de Fès, ADER). Some of these projects necessitated salvage archaeology interventions conducted by experts from The National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage Sciences (INSAP). The most important salvage archaeology projects were conducted at the Qarawiyyin Mosque, the Madrasa Abu ‘Inaniyya, the Plaza Lalla Yadduna, and the Funduq al-Sagha.
The city’s architectural heritage preservation projects included a wide range of building types from different time periods; the most notable of which are: 1) the Madrasas (medieval institutions of higher education), such as the Madrasa Abu ‘Inaniyya, the Madrasa al-‘Attarine, and the Madrasa al-Sharratin, to mention a few; 2) the Borj Nord (a late 16th-century military tower); 3) the Funduqs (caravanserai), such as the Funduq al-Najjarin, the Funduq al-Shamma‘in, and the Funduq al-Sbitriyyin; 4) Dar ‘Adiyel (an 18th-century rich mansion restored in 1994 and considered as one of the earliest restoration work conducted in the city); and 5) the Synagogue Danan (Slat Rabbi Shelomo Danan, built in 1666 CE). Several of these historic buildings are now considered success stories of adaptive use. For example, the Funduq al-Najjarin, an early 18th-century caravansary restored between 1990 and 1996, has been transformed into the city’s Museum of Wood Arts and Crafts. The adaptive use of this historic building into a museum has contributed significantly to the economic revitalization of the whole neighborhood of al-Najjarin by creating new jobs (e.g., the hiring of staff for the museum and its coffee shop and increased activity of the local tourist guides) and contributing to a boost in commercial activity for the local shops and restaurants. In addition to public monuments of major historic significance, considerable financial resources were allotted to assist local inhabitants to restore their houses, especially private buildings at risk of collapse.
With more than four decades of experience in architectural heritage preservation, the Fez model is now being replicated in other cities in Morocco (e.g., Rabat, Meknes, Marrakech, and Essaouira) and internationally, especially in neighboring countries of the Global South.
In a forthcoming work, the author provides further detailed analysis of all work of preservation of architectural heritage conducted in the city of Fez since it was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 (Ennahid, forthcoming). This discussion is based on close reading/examination of all major references on the topic from a variety of fields and disciplines, including architectural history, urbanism, town planning, and archaeology. For a more detailed discussion of the preservation of architectural heritage in Fez, the reader is invited to consult the author’s forthcoming work entitled: The Built Environment of Historic Islamic Cities: Fez. In Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
Bibliography
Ennahid, S. The Built Environment of Historic Islamic Cities: Fez. In: Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford:
Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
Ennahid, S. Africa, North: Historical Archaeology. In: Rehren, T., Nikita, E. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 2nd Edition, Vol. 3. London: Academic Press, 2024, pp. 207-213.
Ennahid, S. Searching for Rome: French Colonial Archaeology and Urban Planning in Morocco. In: Rome and the Colonial City, Rethinking the Grid, Editors: Sofia Greaves and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Impact of the Ancient City, Vol. 3. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books, 2022, pp. 353-365.
Ennahid, S. Access Regulation in Islamic Urbanism: The Case of Medieval Fès. In: The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2002, pp. 119-134.
Le Tourneau, R. Fès avant le Protectorat : Etude Economique et Sociale d’une Ville de l’Occident Musulman. Casablanca: Publications de l’Institut des Hautes Etudes Marocaines, 1949.
Lévi-Provençal, E. La Fondation de Fès. In: Annales de l’Institut d’Etudes Orientales d’Alger IV, 1938, pp. 23-53.
Watch again the lecture by Said Ennahid at the Aula Mediterrània series.