The Magic of Meknes! Morocco's Imperial Secret

We recommend watching the video version of this episode on our YouTube channel, you can find it here:

The Magic of Meknes! Morocco's Imperial Secret (YouTube)

Today we feature the imperial city of Meknes, which has a prominent place in Morocco's history and culture, particularly as it relates to the Alaouite Dynasty, who continue to reign as the ruling family of Morocco today.

This episode originally appeared as part of our initial split tour episode: Ep, 71, Oct 15, 2024 - "From Capitals to Afterthoughts and Back Again: The Stories of Meknes & Volubilis (live walking tour)."

BUT - this time we have an extended focus on Meknes, and you can watch the video version as well over on our YouTube channel.

In the mid-17th Century, sultan Moulay Isma'il chose Meknes as his capital. Over the next 50 years, he rebuilt the city on a monumental scale, fitting of a new, imperial city.

The end of Moulay Isma'il's reign however, in 1727, led to a competition for power, and eventually Meknes lost its status of imperial capital, which moved back to Fes. Later, the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 also hit northern Morocco very hard, causing damage in Meknes that further undermined its status and prestige.

In our episode today, we have a fabulous local guide, Abdellatif, who spoke excellent English and had a deep knowledge of history and detail throughout the old city. Be sure to request him if you have Meknes in your Morocco tour itinerary, fingers crossed he will be available!

Abdellatif tells us about the interconnected nature of the medina, which contains more than 10,000 houses. He tells us the history of the Mellah, and how although the population has dwindled, these days Jewish ancestors come back to retrace ancient footsteps.

We explore the Bab el-Khamis, one of the monumental entrances to the medina, decorated with intricate calligraphy. Abdellatif translates it for us and explains why it's called the "happy gate."

We then visit the mausoleum of Moulay Isma'il, which includes a mosque, prayer space, madrassa and library. We learn about how families with Alaouite ancestry, even if they are not rich and powerful today, are still allowed to bury their dead in the royal cemetery, thanks to this lineage. 

We see how mosaics were created through mathematical calculations, and then Abdellatif points out the supposedly haunted prison, the "prison with no windows or doors," where the Sultan would bargain for the lives (frequently Europeans) in the age of piracy. Fortunately those days are long over!

Abdellatif truly brings Meknes to life with his vibrant and descriptive tour. You'll gain a new appreciation for this fascinating and often bypassed city, which is in fact quite easy to add to a standard Chefchaouen-Fes itinerary. 

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Transcript

[00:01:00] There is about 10 kilometers of walls and 10 doors. Now we have the walls, the ramparts, and we have the gates. So the gates is where we see, right? So the gate, and we have small gates, we have a large gate and big gates, because you can enter the Medina only from several gates.

And then when even, for example, nowadays, if you have a car, you cannot go in the Medina with a car. So you're a bit outside the walls, in a parking. So you have to move, because Medinas are free from car traffic. So this is the way that we enter the Medina, you start to have a labyrinth series of the alleyways, and this is the serpentine movement.

But if you look at the Medinas like this, normally the Medinas are representing what is historical, what is traditional, and what is indigenous. This is something to do with the native.

It is something in market like a multicultural [00:02:00] society. Where what we call the Amazigh, or the Berber, we have what we call also the Andalusian. We have also called the Arab. So it is representing what is Islamic, but there is different ethnic groups. And even the Jewish in a time used to have their own districts and neighborhoods. Before we are going to cross later to see the Mellah, but before the Mellah we have district and areas where the Jewish will live in, within the Medina.

So also the Christian, you have also a number of their own buildings, historical buildings, but particularly that house or that convent, that monastery, this is called the Franciscan Nuns School. And this is the place where a lot of women inside the Medina have learned quite a lot of skills. Embroidery design, paramedical education.

So they have a lot of disciplines where the nuns have taught, especially to women. But also we find something because it is Islamic area, we talk also about Islamic gardens. We have an Islamic garden in the outside, even though it was done by the French. The type of the French, for the Islamic garden, are different from the [00:03:00] English type of garden.

Because here we have also theater. We have a zoo, we have a place for the picnics. We have a lot of the thing to do with the culture of the Islamic culture in general. So, in brief, this is a UNESCO heritage, there is more than 10,000 houses there. There's a great number of old buildings, what we call sometime riad and 'dar,' or a big house.

We have also, the people are living quite together. This is a place for commerce and artisanal work. This is a place for living and also for working, and also for practicing different other function like relation, education and artisan work in general. So this is particularly one of the facade, one of the importance, one of the function of our historical Medina.

And it is a particular example which we have here. That's one thing I will say that if the Medina, look from a high distance, it seems like a beehive. Because all the houses are interconnected with each other. But they say that all the honey is inside, not outside. Because normally you can see nothing from the outside.

Only when you are discovering the [00:04:00] luxury, which mean that we talk about inward focus. We focus mainly in the interior of the building. And we have later a good example when we go to see the mosque and the mausoleum, to see how a mausoleum, a shrine, a palace, normally is developed from the interior of the building. So what we'll do later, we are going to cross all these walls.

We go outside, we see an extension of the outside. Because the Medina now is limited, there is no more space for building more houses within. Then we see also extra buildings with the other gate, before getting to the Jewish area, which we call the Mellah. From the Mellah, there is another area leading directly to the fortress, which is the Kasbah. And we can see that either the Kasbah, the Medina, or the Jewish area are separate, but they are in continuous relation when they get to the center, which mean that every community has its own separate area from the other.

Then we have to see later, we'll go back to the same square. If you're interested to go to see also the market area, part of the Medina and also one of the museums of the city of [00:05:00] Meknes.

By the way, they saved the Jewish area and now they are still continuing the restoration. The restoration had started in 2019, but you know what happened in 2019. There is the COVID, so they have to stop almost one year and a half. And now they are only continuing the restoration and the work. Which is totally difficult, especially that this is a UNESCO heritage.

 And whenever there is a UNESCO heritage, the UNESCO is all the time asking to pay attention, not to change, not to modernize. And you have even to go very slowly, even in the architecture and designing, in order not to change anything about the spirit, you have to keep the spirit, you see the authenticity.

It is what is important about such building. From this view, you can see from here, you can see the old Mellah, you see the old Jewish quarter. This is dating back to the 15th century. When the Jewish were settled for the first time over there, after [00:06:00] coming from the Medina. And who granted this land is the Sultan, because the Sultan wanted to approach them to get them too near to his palace hill,

either for protection or because the Jewish were at that time involved in many other special political and commercial activities for the Sultan himself. Then when the Jewish start to grow in the number, so they have a second Mellah. We started from 1912 to 1920, which is also the period of the French, during the colonial period. Because the number of the Jewish before 1948 was almost 25 thousand Jewish living only in Meknes. And we used to have one of the best organized Jewish community, or even of rabbis, because we have a lot of Jewish schools and synagogues, which happened to be here from the 15th century. We saw that Meknes was in a time one of the most important residential area of a lot of the Jewish.

And by the way, when we talk about the Jewish in Morocco, we talk also about the Toshavim, which are the Jewish who came from [00:07:00] Palestine after the destruction of the temple. Then also, we talk about the Megorashim, the ones who came from Spain. And this is the name given to them, is Sephardic. They say the Sephardic were largely living here, and they are totally from the other European, or Eastern Europe called Ashkenazi.

So this is the particular of Morocco that we have one of the best, one of the most important, one also of the most in historical Jewish communities as they live right here. By the way, we have the Mellah, this is leading almost directly to the old one. We will go to the shade and we can see even better.

It's just now preparing to open the gate, but they have not as yet finished. The name of this gate is Bab el-Khemis. Bab el-Khemis. Meaning Thursday Gates. Why did they name it Bab el-Khemis? Even in Marrakech there is Thursday Gate, there is one in Fes. Khemis is a very special day for the Jewish and the Muslim [00:08:00] because it has a religious connotation, a reference. Because normally the Jewish prepare for the Sabbath from Thursday. Because on Friday they used to go to the cemetery to light the candle, and then you have to visit the cemeteries over there. 

The Muslim do the same thing because the Muslim prepare for Friday, Jumu'ah, it is like the Muslim Sabbath. Which mean Muslim and Jewish have to come on Thursday. And so the reason that they say that the Jewish and the Muslim should not be seen in the market between Friday and Saturday, and they need to come on Thursday.

And this is one particular evidence reason that they call the Jewish area or the gates as Bab el-Khemis. So there was a market - There was a market day, a market every Thursday. Because normally, you know, the Jewish have to prepare for a food. It is called the Sabbath meal.

And the Sabbath meal you have to be prepared. You have to buy the meat and they have everything. It's very special, because you know that the Jewish don't cook on the Sabbath, which meant that they have to prepare. The Muslim, they cook, but the Muslim also go to the cemeteries, [00:09:00] which made that there is some shared tradition between the Jewish. Even though the Jewish Mellah is there, it is only particularly to preserve their culture, their story, the education, and a lot of the things to do with the Jewish custom.

But otherwise, the Jewish can move from the Mellah to the Medina and elsewhere. Which mean that this is how there is coexisting. And there is total tolerance between Muslim and Jewish all together.

So also, one thing I would like to explain that there is a text. Because Islam normally they don't use iconography or they don't use statues, but they use calligraphy.

I'll explain what is written there. On the side it is called, "I am the Happy Gate, open to all the people either from the orient or from the occident. I am the Happy Gate, similar to my beauty, to the full moon of the sky. I was built by Moulay Ismail, because it is dating back to the 17th century. The prosperity and the fortune are written all my friends, I am surrounded with beauty."

They show that calligraphy, floral design, and this is also the other motif of [00:10:00] symmetries and design. These are part of the Islamic arts. This is why that the facade of the gate, it is quite similar to the interior decoration of buildings from the inside. We have what is floral, what is digital, what is epigraphic and what is geometrical. All the element, especially when they are using the Moroccan tiles and the Moroccan zellige, on the Moroccan mosaics in the outside. Let's go a little bit inside it and we go from the other side.

Well, just one thing here, just to see that once we move from Bab el-Khemis, the Jewish area, we enter automatically to the Jewish place, which is called the Mellah. And the Mellah has a name which is shared through all the Jewish quarters in all Morocco. You can even to small villages in the Sahara, in Desert, we find called also the Mellah.

We don't know exactly, but probably the Mellah, it is something to do with the activities of the Jewish, but probably in fruit [00:11:00] salt in many other term. Vegetable, and it is mainly a name, it is in Hebrew, it is called salt. But many others say that probably it could be as a Hebrew name. It mean, "al-mellah," which mean the people of religion.

And this is something to do with Islamic, the Muslim, now that you have to protect even the Jewish place. You see, according to the prophet that you have to respect all the other religion and to other, all the other civilization and other culture. It's why the people of religion and they are all the time required to respect and the protection from the other.

And it's why the name is still seen in such a way, in such a manner. In this part of the Mellah, we have the old Mellah where now no Jewish are living there. But only we have traces of all synagogues and the places where the Jewish have their own trade and their commerce. Largely now the population who have been owning the houses are Muslim families.

But the good thing that now Jewish are coming from Israel, they're coming from South America, and they have their ancestors who have already lived there in a certain time. But they explain something [00:12:00] very good that the Muslim there are ready to open their houses to the new visitor. Because the people are claiming that you see where their ancestors had lived and what type of activities they were entertaining.

When they were populating largely the Mellah. But look at this side here of the new Mellah, is totally different, because it is more modern as a quarter. If you want to see the shade, this is here. This is a new quarter. If we compare it to the old Mellah, because this is starting, the first houses here start in 1920.

The first synagogue is 1930. And also we have Talmud Torah, which is a very important Yeshiva school. Yeshiva in the Jewish means "At a school for the teaching of Torah and Talmud," like a high college. When you are moving from the Medrassa, as we call it, which is a small area for teaching. Like the Muslim use Koranic school, you have one from the Catholic school to the Yeshiva school and Yeshiva,

it is where you start to learn something about the Talmud and the Torah studies. Then you are [00:13:00] preparing yourself to become a rabbi. See, this is why they say that the Torah, Meknes was an area for the masters of the Torah in Morocco. So also you can see the small balconies, because they say that the first families to use balconies were Jewish.

Moroccan architecture is protecting more intimacy and privacy, so they don't make balconies outside, but they make them inside. So it is quite easily, you can quite distinguish where the Jewish are living, from where the Muslim are living, just by the type of the building, the construction, and the presence of balconies in the outside facade of their houses and their own building.

So mean that this is how the modern architecture such to be introduced, especially during the colonial period when the French were here. And by the way, in 1990, we still have only 400 Jews still living here, 400 in 1990. Because slowly and slowly they start to go to Israel, to South America and elsewhere.

[00:14:00] They start to be called by international organization. This is what the Moroccan never liked that the Jewish leave. Because the departure of the Jewish mean an economic crisis, because they were holding most of the business and most of the culture and probably had also, this is something to prove, that they have the best education as well.

And so the reason that they were so near to the Sultan, and they were having a lot of businesses all around. But taking their business, emptying the Mellah, means a big crisis to be happening to the Moroccan in a certain time or a certain period. Actually, we don't have more than 20 Jewish still living here.

Persons not families, which mean that we have only about seven or 10 families seriously living here. The only good thing that now we have, we have families are coming back that to visit in Hiloula. A hiloula means a museum or a festival, and we have a lot of rabbis, very important like Berdugo. This is Raphael Berdugo is buried in the old cemetery,

in the historical cemetery. He is a very famous man and a master of [00:15:00] the Torah, quite known all over Israel. And now they are coming even to visit his tombs here. But we have another family called the Toledano. The Toledano, but the Toledano are not much religion but they are more business. So they have a lot of business in Morocco.

You see the Toledano family, and we still have a lot of members in the community, decided especially what we call the Universal Alliance Schools. Alliance School, Universal Alliance Schools. Because we know that the Jewish at the time, they separate man from women in education. And that even women don't getting educated, like probably the Muslim will do it.

But later with the French, when they come, they start to establish modern schools and they are called "Alliance Universal Israeli Schools." And the women start to come to the school to study. This is why largely how the women start to have their share and part of education. And it's quite famous now because still we have this schools here

in the Mellah. Nothing has changed because still we have synagogues, even though they are closed, we still have the patrimony, [00:16:00] the Jewish heritage, is very virtual, which mean that is still very important and it still largely existing right here. Is hiloula celebrated anywhere else in the world or just in Morocco?

Now it is around the world and, but normally, particularly the word hiloula is a Hebrew word means a festival. What we know that they have also hiloula in Tunisia. Because they go to Carthage, they have also in the Hara, because the Jewish called the, they call it the Hara. Because the hiloula, it is something, normally it is a "magrabine,"

We can call it North African, because the Jewish of Israel. But probably if it is a hiloula probably could do it also in Poland, they can do with something, but the word could be just a little bit. But the hiloula is a very important, nowadays we still have a lot Jewish coming every year. But in separate times, because they go also to Ouazan, they go also to Titouan,

They go also to Tanger, they go to Rabat. But largely also in Fes and Marrakesh because there is more than 600 Jewish rabbis are buried in these cemeteries. Meknes, we have a very important, [00:17:00] also a number of this. There is hiloula, and there is hanukkah. 

Hiloula is the name of the Muslim. It is like called Muslim. Hiloula. But Hanukah is a festival, like we say, for example, the end of Ramadan, for example, for us it is "Hanukah." We call Soko. There is kapour, there is yom kippur is here. 

Hanukah, it is like a time for celebration, like Passover also, which is coming in a certain period of time, which made that they are religious festival, the name of the religious Festival celebrated by the Jewish community in Morocco.

This is a prayer hall, and most of the majiid, is a place for the prayer, for prostration. They have mostly copied the model of cordoba mosques . They are called "t-form," t-form or "hypo-style." [00:18:00] They have a large open area. They have a mihrab, which is shown in the eastern direction. And then we have another covered area, which is now a funeral complex.

When we are going to go inside, we find where the Sultan was buried, adding a shrine. The mausoleums normally exist a thousands of years ago with our civilization, and give you examples of the pyramids in Egypt, and with the pharaoh. These are called also mausoleums. Then we talk also about the Taj Mahal, the Taj Maha in India, with the Mumtaj Mahal, when her husband, when she died, her husband wanted to bury her in a very lavish and elegant area.

Then we wanted to talk also about the king Mausolus, it is a Greek. When he died, his wife also loved him. She asked all that his body should be buried in a high elevated area, and his name is called Mausolus, this is the name, the source of the name, later developed. Which mean that Moroccan as a culture, we are honoring and cherishing deeply the memory of our leaders.

Either we have political or even very simple, 'cause you know that we have a lot of patron [00:19:00] saints, a lot of Zawiyahs in Morocco, and there is a very famous person even buried here. I don't know if you know Abdal al-Majdoub. Abdal al-Majdoub is buried there on the right. It is there. This Abdal al-Rahman al-Majdoub is a poet, mystic poet, and is a Sufi, and is like the Rumi in Turkey, the Rumi al-Jalāl Rumi Moulay Ismail wanted to be buried next to him, because he was buried, this one, in the 15th century. Moulay Ismail was buried only in the 18th century. So that he want his tomb to be near for protection. This mean that is the reason that we have a lot of Sufi Brotherhood and tombs in certain parts of the mausoleum.

[00:20:00] You see the official sanctuary, where the sultan is buried, but we have the funeral chamber is over there. We have just enough place here where the people can pray, because there is a miharab. Because when the people make a visit, they also come to pray as well. Sometime individual, sometime collective. But now we don't make collective prayer, either the man come to pray here individually, different from the other.

Also, this is a place for education and learning. Is a place for reciting the Koran and learning to memorize the Koran. Because we have a third room from the other side, which is serving like a school, or like for example called Madrasa. It is masjiid, but it's also Koranic school. But they have also a library, or a cabinet for books. As also the place which is a little bit rectangular, where the Imams are sitting on Friday. And the top of them there is like the geneological tree to represent the origin of this dynasty, which is Sharifian. When we call Sharifian, they are claiming back to the Prophet of Islam, which mean that everything about their origin from the King, Mohamed VI, back to the [00:21:00] prophets, is written there.

It's the reason that we call the king the Commander in Chief and religion, or the Commander al-Mu'minin. Now this is why we see the double function of the Sultan between what is political as a ruler, as a leader, but is also it is also the head of the state and what concerns religion because of his Sharifian birth and noble origin.

Also, the decoration here is sometime making a reflection to what is Andalusian. Andalusian, or Moorish. So when you see the Moorish, they are the Moors who came from here, and they go to Spain and come back. This is a time when a lot of the Andalusian normally were rejected and they were expelled.

This is why that the architecture here is quite reminiscent to what we find in south of Spain, in Andalusia, in the other Andalusian provinces. That we find also the beauty of the marble. The carved marble, we find the jewellery, we find the plaster, we find all the noble materials are used around that should make a beautiful interior design.

So also we can see also that the fountain in the middle, this is very [00:22:00] special, which is also, this is oblong. It is octagonal all the time. It is only decorated, but sometime the water is gushing to show that the motion, when the water is gushing in motion, means the dynamic of life. Which mean that you come to wash, to clean, and to detach yourself and bring the energy for meditation.

So you see the purpose of having water almost everywhere when we come right here, it is religious, but it is artistic and aesthetic at the same time. And we see the reflection of arts and design as Morocco was open to different influences.

That the multitude of influences we find, especially in the architectural products, which we see so often in many type of the buildings. But look also here that we have also the plaster work. The plaster work, it is plaster, but sometime it is stucco. And stucco is only the powder, the marble, mixed with lime.

It takes the higher position, but it is also make the carving of the friezes in certain part of the building. And so [00:23:00] often it is used also for other decoration of stalactites and stalagmites. So these are also other design which have other geometrical and floral motives in the architecture.

Then we have also in the cover, everything is covered on the top because cedar wood is above eye level.

We use it on the door of course, but we use it on the ceiling. This is why we see above eye level, you have to look up, in order to see the cedar.. Either in the galleries or the rooftop or the canopies. We see the importance of the decoration used, especially with carving cedar wood. And wood is carved and painted and sculpted at the same time.

So that the doorways here, and also we can see that over there, there are graves over the behind, there are graves. On Friday, all the families who have members buried here, they can come. So they open this door for them. It is only a Friday. Because here they come just to pay homage, and they have to make a visit, like we do normally in other cemeteries for our members of the family.

But these are more, not only Royal, but [00:24:00] this only sometime have affiliation. They have some origin, they are going back to when the Sultan was living. And Meknes, it is no wonder, because Meknes was the center of the Alaouite at the beginning. And we have very extended families, which mean that we have a lot of descendants which are still living here, even though that many of them are very poor. They are not rich, but still they are called Alaouite and could have a right to be buried once they die in such a place.

 Look at the mosaics here, this is one of the most important. Because the mosaics also, they are using and taking different forms. Sometimes small circle, sometimes rectangular. Sometimes also we can find for some small squares and sometimes different type of the point and stars, which mean that we have different multi polygonal as well. And stars.

 And also crosses. So this is the type of the element of the design they are using in this typical form of the mosaic here. Which mean that when you are making, this is the mathematical fashion, [00:25:00] that you have to bring pieces. One piece with the other. And then we are making a theme or are making a subject. As the type that you are using more the time, a subject, which is more symbolical and significant other than using what is normally creature or images or representation. Which mean that the mosaics are representing the typical form of the abstract art.

Everything is abstract and this is the motif we are using in such a thing. By the way, some people probably want to come around here. Let's go and explain what is over there.

So in a time it was an old one, but now it is only decorated. It's a restoration of the panels. But it is on a time also using, from the mausoleum, from the southern area where there is the palace, then where there is the shrine, because this shrine itself used to [00:26:00] be only a royal mosque before the Sultan choose it to become a burial ground.

Then from the other side, we are moving also to get to military areas. Because this is how they are dividing every place.

Because from there they go to where also the guards and the other members of the army called the Guish. The Guish is called the Army, the Guish, sometime they are Berber or they are Arabs, or they are also African. But also the Sultan had made this here Habs Qara.

This is the underground dungeon. This is the prison that the Sultan had made in the 17th century for a great number of his enemies, and also a lot of rebels, and sometime also from certain kidnapped European, which were taken by the Salé Rovers. Normally it is very, not we say dark, but it is something. A lot of the thing is not understandable about this prison. Because it is said to be a prison without doors and without windows. And it could be that it is more than 30 kilometers in the underground. And there is a lot of labyrinth and a lot of the tunnels where are leading [00:27:00] almost nowhere.

This is why that there is a lot of the stories say that it is totally haunted and blocked in a certain time not to stop any person to get in, to get lost or to be airing in the middle. Because it is like a dark, somber catacomb in the underground of the place. This is also a place where we have also a pavilion, a pavilion they call it. The Pavilion of the Ambassadors.

Koubbat As Sufara. Koubbat As Sufara means, the pavilion of the ambassadors. But the ambassadors here are the ones who are coming to negotiate the money, the ransom of the prisoners. This is why the Sultan had sponsored the piracy, because he wanted to have European prisoners, to sell them back with a big sum of the money that should treated in the same political diplomatic footing.

And the reason that they have it, this very special thing about piracy, and how the Sultan was organizing and even sponsoring and advocating the presence of piracy in Morocco, even though it is not Moroccan, but it was Turkish and Ottoman at the beginning. It is actually under [00:28:00] restoration, but they are restoring only the visible parts. Because it is still blocked and it was blocked in a certain period of time. And not far from here, we have the Golf Royale, it is also the Royal Golf. Normally on Monday, this is Monday, they close it, but it is only among the many gardens that the Sultan used to have. In 1970, they change it to a Golf, with nine holes and it is still surrounded with walls.

And a beautiful area where also they see that even that the people can play golf here at night, because it is all equipped with light from every corner. It's so small, very particular, but not as majestic and important as the one in Marrakesh or the one normally also in Rabat. But this is very unique in its own concept of playing golf within. 

 Thank you for [00:29:00] joining me on Destination Morocco podcast today.

I truly hope this episode brought you a little closer to the heart and soul of Morocco. And remember, the stories and sounds you hear on the podcast are just the beginning. If you're feeling inspired, and ready to experience Morocco's incredible culture, breathtaking landscapes, and genuine hospitality firsthand, let Destinations Morocco create your unique personalized journey.

 Visit destinationsmorocco.com to explore tour ideas, listen to past episodes and most importantly,

book your free discovery call today. And start planning! Until next time, Bslama, 

AZDEAN ELMOUSTAQUIM: thank you. 

(Goodbye).