Imperial city of gates of Spanish-Moorish style - Historic City of Meknes 793; Archaeological Site of Volubilis 836
What and Why
Founded in the 11th century CE by the Almoravid dynasty (Arabic: المرابطون, Al-Murābiṭūn) as a military sentinel, Meknes (Tamazight: ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas) became the capital of Morocco (ⵍⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱ, Lmeɣrib) under Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif (مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف ابن النصر) in the 17th century CE. Moulay Ismail turned Meknes into an impressive city in Spanish-Moorish style, surrounded by high walls with great gates to reflect its military prowess, which became the main feature of this majestic city. The city also provides a remarkable approach of urban design, integrating elements of both Islamic and European architecture and town planning.
Meknes is one of the four imperial cities in Morocco, the other being Fez (ⴼⴰⵙ), Marrakesh (ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ) and now Rabat (ⴰⵕⴱⴰⵟ), all blogged.
Toponymy
Meknes is derived from the name of tribe dominant in Northern Africa during the mediaeval times, Miknasa (ⵉⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙⵏ, Imeknasen), which can be linked to the meaning of 'sweep' or 'broom', apparently with reference to the sand in the region.
The etymology of 'Morocco' is more disputed. The current Arabic name is ‘المغرب (Al-Maghrib)’, meaning 'west', while the word ‘Morocco’ probably derives from the city of Marrakesh (ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ, Mṛṛakc). The more accepted theory is that it comes from the Berber term 'ⴰⵎⵓⵔ ⵏ ⴰⴽⵓⵛ (Amur (n) Akush)', meaning the 'land of God'. The Berber or Tamazight language in use is now an official language of Morocco, together with Arabic. Berber clearly comes from 'barbari' in Latin, meaning 'barbarian'; while the actual Berber word 'ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ (tamaziɣt)' actually means 'a free noble man'. How racist!
See
The main landmarks of Meknes would definitely be the gates, and there are 27 of them, surrounding a perimeter of almost 40 km. Meknes is a fully walled city protected by these gates.
Bab Mansour Al-'Alj (باب منصور لالوج)
Bab (باب) means door in Arabic, and amongst the many gateway into Meknes, this is the most famous of them all. This spectacular gate, intensely adorned by green and white tiles and engraved Quranic panels, is a great example of Almohad architecture.
Moulay Ismail conceived the gate not only as a defensive stronghold, but also as an elaborate homage to himself and to the strong Muslim orthodoxy of his dynasty. The architect behind the masterpiece was Mansour Laalej (منصور للج, meaning 'victorious renegade') who sought to ascend in the Sultan’s court. The gate's decoration and marbles came from the nearby town of Volubilis (ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ, Wlili), as below.
Legend has it that when the gate was completed Moulay Ismail inspected it and asked Mansour if he could do better. Mansour felt compelled to answer 'yes', but this only angered sultan to the point that he had him executed. However it is now clear that the gate was only completed in the mid-18th century CE after Moulay Ismail's death.
Apparently one can no longer go through the gate nowadays.
Place El-Hedim (ساحة الهديم)
All Arabic capital cities are called the 'medina', which means 'old city'. In this very colourful but tiny souq Place El-Hedim (Arabic: ساحة الهديم), you will find pretty much everything you expect from 1001 Arabian Nights (Arabic: أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, ʾAlf Laylah wa-Laylah): colourful things to buy, loud haggling, walking camels and horses, cobra charmers, you name it. The medina, which is right in front of the famed Bab Mansour Al-'Alj, is genuinely a typical kaleidoscopic view of Arabic lives. The name 'El-Hedim' means 'demolition', to mock the fact that Moulay Ismail demolished half of the city, including the place to build his walled city.
Bou Inania Madrasa (المدرسة البوعنانية)
Bou Inania Madrasa (Arabic: المدرسة البوعنانية) is an Islamic school in the city. Contrary to what the name might suggest, it was not founded by the ruler Abu Inan Faris (أبو عنان فارس بن علي) but rather by his father Abu Al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman (أبو الحسن علي بن عثمان) in the mid-14th century CE as the marble plaque above the entrance indicates. Interesting to note there is another namesake in Fez (ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, Fās).
Makhzen (ⵍⵎⴻⵅⵣⴰⵏ)
Meaning the 'royal palace', this is the official palace of Moulay Ismail. This is probably the best preserved palace in Morocco.
The word makhzen (Arabic: مخزن) literally means 'store', where the civil servants used to receive their wages; but this usage of the word became in Moroccan culture synonymous with the elite and the wealthy, and hence slowly it changed its original meaning to 'palace'.
Dar El-Ma (دار إل ما)
Royal stables, absolutely breathtaking to visit. It was here that once housed more than 12,000 horses! Here, everything is huge, like the thickness of the walls (4 m in parts) which produced an ideally cool and dry microclimate to store cereals and forages in its gigantic warehouses. It was said that the granary could hold two years of grains for the city in case of siege! The horses are mainly used to power the cistern of the Bassin Sharij Swani (Arabic: صهريج سوني), as below.
Sharij Swani (صهريج سوني)
Sunni tanks: An artificial reservoir and granary commissioned by Moulay Ismail to preserve water for the city, especially during siege. Meknes is very fertile and has lots of water for irrigation purpose.
Volubilis (ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ)
Volubilis is a Roman ruin site near Meknes. The name actually means 'volume' in Latin, which refers to the size of the town. However it has also been proposed that the name derives from the latinisation of its Berber name the Amazigh word ‘ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ (wlili)’, meaning oleander, which is a common plant in the region.
The city used to be the capital of tribal kingdom of Mauretania until it was taken over by the Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Romanum) in 1 CE. The city prospered during the period because of its potent olive plantations. Looking at the ruins alone, one can imagine the prosperity it once achieved. To be honest, it is difficult to imagine the site to be in Africa, as it resembles to every bit the Roman Forum (Italian: Foro Romano) of Rome (Italian: Roma).
The huge city ruin with the mosaic in its foreground, as above. The city is built on a rugged valley and it does requires a minor bit of climbing.
The site can be seen to be quite a township as it contains remnants of a basilica, triumphant arch, large boulevards and even a panthenon (Greek: παρθενώνας, parthenónas)-type temple, as above. The city was chosen probably because of the abundance of olive trees, but it fell to local tribes in the 3rd century CE and since then it has been left to rot, especially experiencing a number of earthquakes.
The triumphant arch would have been the main entrance into the city and its main thoroughfare. As in other famous Roman cities, many elaborate and well-preserved mosaics are found inside the town. This is another indication that the city was once very rich and prosperous as people can use part of their wealths to decorate.
Buy and Do
Porcelain and tajine (ⵜⴰⵊⵉⵏ, ṭajin). The tajine is the typical Moroccan stewpot and is the ultimate Moroccan souvenir. The peculiar shape of the earthenware enhances the sealing of the heat while ensuring a good convection current to circulate the steam and heat inside the pot, ensuring a really good stew. The word derives from Greek ‘τάγηνον (tágēnon)’, meaning ‘saucepan’.
Eat and Drink
Tajine (ⵜⴰⵊⵉⵏ)
What else but the tajine itself? The national dish of Morocco is the tajine in which you stew all sorts of meat, including chicken, fish, beef and mutton, together with vegetables and couscous. As picture below, the weird-looking lid is to recirculate all moisture back into the dish and preserves its water content and heat. Because of this a minimal amount of water is needed to cook the ingredients, and it retains the freshness and moistness throughout.
We had tajines almost everyday throughout, and it can get a bit bland after a few days. Having said that most of the girls did buy a tajine home and did try to use it at least once, and when used to stew, their response were all positive.
Our first taste of tajine comes from La Sqala which is in a prime location at Casablanca (ⴰⵏⴼⴰ, Anfa). Good stuffs and very classy, but probably not the authentic tajine.
We had our second tajine session in Casablanca, which is surprisingly good. It was a local street store called Snack Medina: it was primitive as located right inside the medina of Casablanca but it was actually the best tajine we had during the entire trip!
Getting There and Around
By a chartered car, no other way honestly. One can take a train to Meknes, but not Volubilis.
If you do recall the earlier blog, Volubilis is a sister city with Paestum. I recommend a full day or an overnight trip on both sites.
UNESCO Inscription
Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravids as a military settlement, Meknes became a capital under Sultan Moulay Ismaïl (1672–1727), the founder of the Alawite dynasty. The sultan turned it into a impressive city in Spanish-Moorish style, surrounded by high walls with great doors, where the harmonious blending of the Islamic and European styles of the 17th century Maghreb are still evident today.
The Mauritanian capital, founded in the 3rd century B.C., became an important outpost of the Roman Empire and was graced with many fine buildings. Extensive remains of these survive in the archaeological site, located in a fertile agricultural area. Volubilis was later briefly to become the capital of Idris I, founder of the Idrisid dynasty, who is buried at nearby Moulay Idris.
References
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