# ⁂ Fez ⁂ The Soul of Morocco



## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

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- Population: 1.1 million
- Fez is the world's largest surviving medieval city
- Karaouine University is the world’s oldest University
- Fez is the largest and most enduring medieval Islamic settlement in the world
- There are more than 3.500 fountains in fez
- Fez has more than 14.000 classified monuments
- Fez has about 3500 fountains, many of which are artistic wonders in the detail seen in the mosaic designs
- Fes has about 500 palaces & riads
- Fez has about 200 mosques & synagogues


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Dar El Makhzen*



































































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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Dar El Mokri*

Built by Lhaj Abdeslam Moqri under Hassan I


























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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Leather tanneries*



















































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## JD (Apr 15, 2006)

Morocco is alive?


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## Metsada (Oct 22, 2006)

Does the fez really come from Fez?


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## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

Metsada said:


> Does the fez really come from Fez?


^^ yes it comes...


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## samba_man (Dec 26, 2004)

So beaultiful :drool:


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## Purple Dreams (Jan 31, 2007)

Metsada said:


> Does the fez really come from Fez?


I know it's not the most reliable source but here's the Wikipedia article on the Fez. 

History
The Fez cap originated in Ancient Greece[8] and was subsequently worn by the Medieval Byzantine Greeks[9][10]. The Ottoman Turks adopted the Fez from the Greeks[11][12][13] during their conquest of Byzantine Anatolia. During the reign of the Sultan Mahmud Khan II (1808-39), a European code of dress gradually replaced the traditional robes worn by members of the Ottoman court. The change in costume was soon emulated by the public and senior civil servants, followed by the members of the ruling intelligentsia and the emancipated classes throughout the Ottoman Empire. While European style coats and trousers were gradually adopted, this change did not extend to headwear. Peaked or broad brimmed headdresses such as the top hat did not meet the Islamic requirement that men should press their heads to the ground when praying. Accordingly the Sultan issued a firman (royal decree) that the checheya headgear in a modified form would become part of the formal attire of the Turkish Empire irrespective of his subjects' religious sects or milets.


[edit] Versions
The fez or checheya had many names and shapes. In Istanbul it was called a fez, fezzi, or "phecy" while the modern Egyptian version was called a tarboosh, deriving from the Persian words 'sar' meaning head and 'poosh' meaning cover. It was basically a brimless, cone-shaped, flat-topped hat made of felt. The earliest variety was in the form of a bonnet-like headdress with a long turban wound around it which could be white, red or black. When it was adopted in Istanbul the bonnet was modified. At first it was rounded, then, some time later, lengthened and subsequently shortened. At some point the turban was eliminated, and red became the accepted colour. The fez gets its distinctive red hue from a dye collected from the bright red berries of the Turkish kızılcık (kizziljiek, Cornus mas) - a cousin to the common American dogwood (Cornus florida).


[edit] The fez in military use
The red fez with blue tassel was the standard headdress of the Turkish Army from the 1840s until the introduction of a khaki service dress and peakless sun helmet in 1910. The only significant exceptions were cavalry and some artillery units who wore a lambskin hat with coloured cloth tops. Albanian levies wore a white version of the fez.

From the late 19th century on the fez was widely adopted as the headdress of locally recruited "native" soldiers amongst the various colonial troops of the world. The French North African regiments (Zouaves, Turcos and Spahis) wore high, red fezzes with detachable tassels of various colours. The Libyan battalions and squadrons of the Italian colonial forces wore lower, red fezzes over white skull caps. Somali and Eritrean regiments in Italian service wore high red fezs with coloured tufts that varied according to the unit. German askaris in East Africa wore their fezzes with khaki covers on nearly all occasions. The Belgian Force Publique in the Congo wore large and floppy red fezzes similar to those of the French Tirailleurs Senegalais and the Portuguese Companhias Indigenas. The British King's African Rifles (recruited in East Africa) wore high straight sided fezzes in either red or black, while the West African Frontier Force wore a low red version. The Egyptian Army wore the classic Turkish model until 1950. The West India Regiment of the British Army wore a fez as part of its Zouave style full dress until this unit was disbanded in 1928. The tradition is continued in the full dress of the band of the Barbados Regiment, with a white turban wrapped around the base.

Post-colonial armies in African quickly discarded the fez. It is however still worn by the ceremonial Gardes Rouge in Senegal as part of their Spahi style uniform, and by the Italian Bersaglieri in certain orders of dress. The Bersaglieri adopted the fez as an informal headdress through the influence of the French Zouaves, with whom they served in the Crimean War. The Spanish Regulares (formerly Moorish) Tabors stationed in the Moroccan enclaves of Céuta and Melilla retain a parade uniform which includes the fez and white cloaks. Filipino units organised in the early days of US rule briefly wore black fezzes. The Liberian Frontier Force, although not a colonial force, wore fezzes until the 1940s.

The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar, which was recruited from Bosnian Moslems used the fez. Bosnian Moslem infantry regiments in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire had also been distinguished by wearing the fez until the end of World War I.

Two regiments of the Indian Army recruited from Muslim areas wore fezzes under British rule (although the turban was the nearly universal headdress amongst Hindu and Muslim sepoys and sowars). A green fez was worn by the Bahawalpur Lancers of Pakistan as late as the 1960s.

Many volunteer Zouave regiments wore the French North African version of the fez during the American Civil War.


[edit] The fez around the world

A Malay Chior Competition with Men wearing the Fez 
An old-fashioned Hyderabadi Muslim gentleman wearing an everyday sherwani and fez hatAmong Muslims of South Asia, the fez is known as the Rumi Topi ("Roman cap"). It was a symbol of Islamic identity and showed the Indian Muslims support for the Khilafat (Caliphate), headed by the Ottoman Emperor. Later, it became associated with the Muslim League, the political party which eventually created the country of Pakistan. The late veteran Pakistani politician Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan was one of the few people in Pakistan who wore the fez until his death in 2003.

Following the foundation of Turkey after World War I, Mustafa Kemal regarded the fez - which Sultan Mahmud II had originally introduced to the Ottoman Empire's dress code in 1826 - as a symbol of feudalism and banned it, encouraging Turkish men to wear European attire - thus, hats such as the fedora became popular.

The fez was introduced into the Balkans initially during the Byzantine reign, and subsequently during the Ottoman period where various Slavs, including Serbs and today's Bosniaks, started using the fez.

A variation of black soft fez was used by Italian blackshirts under the Facist regime. This was in immitation of the red soft fez still worn used by bersaglieri units.

In tourist hotels in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, porters and bellhops often wear a fez to provide local colour for visitors. They are however almost never worn in Turkey (see above).


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

Metsada said:


> Does the fez really come from Fez?


Yes the Fez originated in Fez and was popularized in the Ottoman Empire and Western world in the 19th century. 










http://www.visitfes.org/











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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

Berber Carpets Quarter










The authentic refine cuisine of Fes










A tannery worker hangs dyed leather to dry above a honeycomb of vats.










An iron worker toils in a tiny shop along Talaa Kebira.










Yet even as it opens, Fez remains a hidden city. High windowless walls hem narrow passageways, such as this one in the old town.










Fez Pottery










Marinid Walls











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## BIPV (Oct 12, 2006)

Awesome thread!


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Medersa El Attarine*

Built in 1325 by Abu Said. It has fine examples of Merenid work.
































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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)




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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)




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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)




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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)




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## Aitor_ (Feb 13, 2008)

Maroc c'est un pays que j'adore. 

J'ai connu Fes en 2006. Pour moi c'est plus interesant que Marrakech.

J'espère retorrner là!


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