Ancient Medina of Fes

 

As the capital for his newly acquired empire, Idris ibn Abdallah chose to build a new town on the right bank of the Fes river in 789 a.d. Initially a big proportion of the population were refugees who were fleeing from an uprising in Cordoba (modern-day Spain) However in 809 a.d. his son, Idris II, decided to found a capital of his own on the opposite bank of the Fes River. There were many refugees who decided to settle in the new city this time too, however this time they fled from an uprising in Kairouan ( in modern Tunisia).

Even though they were only separated by a relatively small river the cities developed separately and became two individual cities until they were unified in the 11th century by the Almoravids.

One good example of how the refugees contributed to making Fes flourish during the early years is the University of Al-Karaouine that was built by a Tunisian refugee in 859 AD. It is considered the oldest university in the world.

Under the Almoravids, Fes lost its status as a capital when the Almoravids created Marrakech, which they made their capital.

The Almoravids destroyed large parts of Fes el Bali but managed to create modern-day Fes el Bali when they united the twin cities by tearing down that separated them and by building bridges across the Fes river.

During Almohad rule, Fes was a thriving merchant city, even though it was not a capital, and even became the largest city in the world during that time, with approximately 200,000 people living there.

After defeating the Almoravids in Morocco, the Marinids moved the capital from Marrakech to Fes. This marked the beginning of the greatest period of the history for Fes el Bali. When the Marinids moved the capital to Fes in 1276 they started building a new town outside the old city walls. At first it was called the white city but after a while it got a new name; Fes Jdid, or new Fes. This is when Fes el Bali, or the old Fes, got its name too. Before Fes Jdid was founded it was simply called Fes.

Most of the principal monuments in Fes el Bali were built under Marinid rule. In the 14th century a mellah was added to the urban fabric.

Localisation

City  : Fes

GPS : 34°03′47″N 4°58′28″W