Thursday 24 March 2016

Mark 1 or wreck?



I think it's a good job we can't buy a car here as we do not have residence permits or Beloved may have fallen for a restoration project.


Fes; The Attarine Medersa




Further down Taalib Kbir (and it is definitely down) it twists , changes it's name to Rue ech Cherablyin and comes to a range of souks and buildings around the Kairaouine Mosque. This mosque is perhaps the most important culturally in all Morocco. It was founded in 837CE and still fixes the timing of Morocco's religous festivals. It is a vast complex but closed to non-muslims, and has an extremely important library again for muslim scholars. Other religous foundations in the area such as the important zaouia of Moulay idriss are also closed to non-muslims and several of the medersas are closed, either for religous reasons or for renovation, but the other jewel of Merinid architecture the Atterine Medersa is open to visitors.
Finished in 1325 it is earlier than the Bou Inania and has a lighter more fluid feel.
















Tuesday 22 March 2016

Fes; Medersa Bouinania and the Margana



A short stroll down the Talaa Kbira from the Boujloud Gate is the Bouinania Medersa which the Rough Guide rates as the best building in all Morocco. Just to show that great religous buildings are not the sole domain of the pious, this merdersa and mosque complex was built for Sultan Abou Inan whose other claim to fame is fathering 325 sons in 10 years (there must have been girls as well but they don't seem to have been counted), deposing his father and a rather grisly line in murder and execution. He was eventually strangled by his Vizier. However many of the great Merinid  monuments were built under him.
This last Merinid medersa (built between1350 and 1356 CE) is a kalaidescope of carved cedar laceria,



 zellige,



 and stucco 



and showcases the heights of Merinid craftmanship. Such artistry does not come cheap but when presented with the accounts Abu-Inan is reported to have cast them into the river unread saying

"Whatever is beautiful cannot be too costly at any price. What is enthralling is never too costly."





Unusually the kufic script dividing the zellige from the stucco is not solely quotations from the Q'ran. It is largely a list of the properties whose income was given as an endowment to the Mosque/Medersa complex.and also fulsome praise for Abou-Inan.




Opposite the medersa on Talaa Kbir is the Dar-al-Magana or clockhouse. The waterclock built by Tlemsani was unique in the world.


The lower level of struts held 13 brass bowls.The motion of the clock was presumably maintained by a kind of small cart which ran from left to right behind the twelve doors. At one end, the cart was attached to a rope with a hanging weight; at the other end to a rope with a weight that floated on the surface of a water reservoir that was drained at a regular pace. Each hour one of the doors opened; at the same time a metal ball was dropped into one of the twelve brass bowls. The rafters sticking out of the building above the doors (identical to the rafters of the Bou Inania Madrasa) supported a small roof to shield the doors and bowls.

























Friday 18 March 2016

Fes; Batha Palace Museum



Near Boujloud Square and the Jnane Sbil is the Batha Palace. It is from the late 19C but has been a museum since 1916. No photographs are allowed inside the building so I can only illustrate the sumptiously painted and inlaid doors,



ceiling beams,



 and the garden. 



Inside are lovely miniatures and collections of Fassi pottery, ethnic costumes and jewellery and musical instruments.
The gardens are a typical paradise garden sunken below the ground level with a fountain in the centre and divided into four by crossing paths to symbolise the four rivers of the garden of paradise. They are planted with Atlas Cypress, palms, myrtle, lilac, fruit trees and roses.





Fes; Jnane Sbil



Just outside Bab Chems is the Jnane Sbil. Beloved thinks this is probably the best garden we have visited in Morocco but it is a public park ;free to all. They do have uniformed security to make sure you behave yourself.
They have an avenue of Washingtonias, which turn out to be very tall palms,



fountains amid areas of victorian bedding and clipped oranges,





rills and streams which were part of the medieval water system,



and a restored water wheel which ran it,



a  lake with a fountain ,island of palms and views to the medina; the fountain is on the sightline through the fountains from the avenue,





a sensory and cactus garden with labelled herbs,





and lots of shade and seats. A good place to wander after lunch.