Dar Sanaa Tetouan

Dar Sanaa was founded in 1919 under the Spanish protectorate as a school of traditional arts and it has run since, which makes it one of the oldest institutions of its kind in Morocco and part of why Tetouan's craft standard is high - its graduates work on restorations across the country. Students take multi-year courses in the trades that make a Moroccan building: zellige cutting and setting, carved and painted plaster, cedar carving and painting, wrought iron, leather, and on the textile side embroidery in the distinctive Tetouani style and silk weaving. Visitors can walk through the workshops during term and watch students at work with their teachers, which is an unpolished and useful thing to see - the tools, the pace and the sheer time each element takes are the argument. There is a small shop. It is beside the ethnographic museum at Bab el-Okla.

Highlights

• A 1919 craft school - among the oldest of its kind, still training for restoration work.
• Multi-year courses - zellige, plaster, cedar, iron, leather and embroidery.
• Students at the bench - workshops walked through during term with teachers present.
• Tetouani embroidery - the city's distinctive textile style taught on the same site.

When to go

October to April, during term. An hour or two.

What to expect

It is a school - it closes for holidays and exams and visits depend on classes running. There is no formal tour. Photography of students needs asking. The shop is small.

Nearby

The Tetouan ethnographic museum is beside it; the UNESCO medina is inside the gate.