Fez is a historic Moroccan city in the north-center of the country, one of Morocco's four historic imperial capitals alongside Marrakesh, Rabat, and Meknes. It was founded in 789 AD by Idris I and later expanded by his son Idris II, growing into a major religious, scholarly, and commercial center in Islamic Morocco for centuries.
Morocco's Capital of Learning
Fez is home to the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded by Fatima al-Fihri in 859 AD and recognized by UNESCO and Guinness World Records as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. The city's old medina, Fes el-Bali, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a labyrinth of narrow alleys housing thousands of traditional workshops, most famously the Chouara Tannery with its iconic colored dye pits.
- The University of al-Qarawiyyin, the world's oldest continuously operating university
- Fes el-Bali, the world's largest car-free urban area
- The Chouara Tannery, famous for its traditional colored dye pits
- Bab Boujloud, the historic blue-tiled gate to the old medina
Fez is a leading center of traditional Moroccan craftsmanship, from leather and copperware to pottery and ornate zellige tilework, and still relies on donkeys and mules to move goods through its narrow alleys, which number more than nine thousand.
