Place Seffarine

Place Seffarine is one of the few open spaces in the dense centre of Fes el-Bali, and one of its most atmospheric. The square takes its name from the saffarin, the coppersmiths and brass-workers who have worked here for centuries and who made it the main market for their trade. The 16th-century traveller Leo Africanus noted their presence, and they are still at work today, hammering cauldrons, trays and kettles in workshops around the edge of the square. The sound of metal on metal is often the first thing you notice as you approach.

The buildings around the square are as interesting as the workshops. On the north-west side is the Qarawiyyin Library, first built in the late 16th century under Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur and reopened in its current form in 1949, one of the most celebrated libraries of the Islamic world. On the east side stands the Saffarin Madrasa, built in 1271 by the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub. It is the oldest purpose-built madrasa in Morocco and is still in use, having been renovated in the late 2010s, along with an 18th-century annex, the Madrasa Mohammadia. On the south-west side is the Saffarin Hammam, a bathhouse dating from the Marinid period of the 14th century.

The square was given much of its present appearance during a restoration in the 1930s and 1940s, carried out at the request of the manager of the Qarawiyyin endowment with the support of King Mohammed V, and it was renovated again in the 2010s. Photographs of the workshops are fine from a respectful distance, but ask before photographing individuals up close, and expect that buying something is the polite way to thank someone for a demonstration.

Allow 20 to 30 minutes here, longer if you are shopping. Prices for copper and brass are open to negotiation, so check what you are buying and agree a price before any engraving or packing. The square is busiest in the morning and early afternoon on working days, and quieter on Fridays.

Place Seffarine lies a few minutes' walk from the Al-Attarine Madrasa at the bottom of Tala'a Kebira, and it makes a natural link between the Qarawiyyin area and the river. From here you can continue towards the tanneries or cross into the Andalous quarter for the Sahrij Madrasa.