Bou Inania Madrasa

The Bou Inania Madrasa is usually the first great building visitors see in the medina of Fes, and it sets a high bar for everything that follows. The Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris, who ruled from 1348 until his assassination in 1358, began the work at the end of 1350 and it was completed in 1355. The madrasa takes its name from him, and it was built as a residential college where students lived and studied the religious sciences.

What makes Bou Inania unusual is that it was more than a school. It also served as a congregational mosque, the only madrasa in Morocco to do so, which is why it has a prayer hall with a mihrab and minbar and a brick minaret rising over its north-western corner. The original minbar is now kept at the Al Batha Museum nearby. The heart of the building is a large marble-paved courtyard with a fountain for ablutions, framed by galleries, two classrooms on the east and west sides and student rooms on the upper floor. Look closely at the layers of decoration: zellij tilework at the base of the walls, carved stucco above it and carved cedar beneath the eaves.

Across Tala'a Kebira street stands the Dar al-Magana, a water clock associated with the madrasa. Its facade carries thirteen carved cedar consoles that once held bronze bowls. Nobody is quite sure how the mechanism worked, and the bowls were removed in the later 20th century, but the structure was restored in the early 2000s and is worth a glance on the way in or out.

Non-Muslim visitors can enter the courtyard but not the prayer hall, which can be seen from the courtyard. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, as this is still a religious building. Thirty to forty-five minutes is enough for most people. Light is best when the sun reaches into the courtyard, and early in the day it is calmer before tour groups arrive from Bab Bou Jeloud.

The madrasa sits between Tala'a Kebira and Tala'a Seghira, the two main streets that run down from the Bab Bou Jeloud gate, so it is an easy first stop on a walk through Fes el-Bali. Combine it with the Al Batha Museum, which holds pieces from the building, and then follow Tala'a Kebira downhill towards the Al-Attarine Madrasa at the far end of the same street.