Meknes

Meknes is one of Morocco's four imperial cities, and it owes its grandeur to Sultan Moulay Ismail, who in the late seventeenth century made it his capital and built it on a monumental scale to rival the great cities of Europe, ringing it with tens of kilometres of walls and enormous gateways. The showpiece is Bab Mansour, one of the most magnificent gates in North Africa, its arch framed by marble columns and covered in intricate tilework, facing the vast square of El Hedim. Beyond it lie the sultan's ambitious works: the great granaries and stables built to supply an army and its horses, the huge Agdal reservoir, and his mausoleum, one of the few religious buildings in Morocco non-Muslims may enter. Meknes has a lived-in, workaday feel and a fraction of the crowds of nearby Fès, which is much of its charm.

History

The Roman town of Volubilis lies nearby, but the city and its name come from the Miknasa, a Berber tribe whose name means fighters, who settled here in the 10th century in a group of villages known for their olives. The Almoravids built a fortified settlement, Tagrart, just south of them in the 11th century, the start of the old medina, and the Nejjarine Mosque and the first Grand Mosque date from their time; the Almohads took the city after a long siege in the 12th century, and the caliph Muhammad al-Nasir rebuilt it and its walls early in the 13th. Under the Alaouites, Moulay Isma'il governed Meknes for his brother Moulay Rashid and, on becoming sultan in 1672, made it his capital, building a vast palace complex, walls and gates such as Bab Mansour, and moving the Jewish population to a new mellah near the kasbah; among his last works, of 1721-1725, was the Heri al-Mansur with its huge stables. After his death in 1727 the city lost its status as capital and was damaged in the earthquake of 1755, and the palace fell into ruin, its walls now enclosing ordinary houses (Wikipedia, Meknes).

Highlights

• Bab Mansour - the monumental tiled gateway onto the El Hedim square.
• The Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail - the sultan's tomb, open to non-Muslim visitors.
• The Heri es-Souani granaries and stables - the vast storehouses and stabling of his court.
• The medina and souks - the walled old town, calmer than the bigger cities'.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant; summer is hot and winter can be cold and wet. The city is an easy half-day or day, and being on the rail line makes it a simple stop between Fès and Rabat. Combining it with Volubilis and Moulay Idriss makes a full day.

Before you go

Meknes is often rushed as a half-day stop on the way to Fès, which sells it short, but equally its monuments are spread out and some, like the granaries, are semi-ruined, so it rewards interest in history more than shopping or spectacle. It is a real working city with less tourist polish than Fès or Marrakech, which some find refreshing and others underwhelming. Faux guides operate around the main sites.

Nearby

Volubilis and Moulay Idriss are a short drive north; Fès is under an hour away by train.