- Address: Fes El Bali, Fes, Morocco
- Website: alquaraouiyine.com
- Founded: 859
- Outstanding graduates: Maimonides, Leo Afrikansky, Mohammed Ahmed Bahnini
According to historical sources, the founder of Al-Karaouine was a woman, which is already surprising for the Islamic world. It was one of the daughters of a Tunisian merchant. After receiving a large inheritance after his father's death, Fatima and his sister built two mosques on the different banks of the river Fez. One was called Al-Andal, and the other was Al-Karaouine. On this the similarity of mosques ends. At the Al-Karaouin mosque they erected a madrasah, from which the history of the educational institution began. The university even got into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest of the operating ones.
What to see?
Al-Karaouine in Morocco is interesting not only as an educational institution, but also as a monument of architecture. During the period of its existence, its buildings were repeatedly completed and disintegrated. A huge prayer hall can accommodate more than 20 thousand believers. At large sizes it is very well organized and divided by a lot of arcades and is divided into distinctive cells. A large number of arches make the room visually endless. From the domes that adorn the hall, the most beautiful dome is the tent above the mihrab. It resembles a square in the corners of which are located small caves. The entire structure of the dome resembles a honeycomb. No less interesting is the dome decorating the memorial mosque. Its appearance is similar to stalactite. There are three doors between this mosque and the prayer hall.
All the buildings of Al-Karaouine University in Fez can be circumvented due to the large number of doors, and there are more than thirty of them. Exits from the mosque to the street or into the courtyard allow you to view the building from all sides. In the narrow parts of the courtyard are two kiosks. Their four-slope roof protects cool fountains from the scorching sun.
The courtyard of the university is lined with glazed tiles, the arches and columns are decorated with magnificent stucco molding and wood carvings. Alongside the memorial mosque to the prayer hall, the library of Jamiat al-Karaviyin is attached. It contains unique manuscripts created by the greatest scientists from all over the world.
The Al-Karaouine Mosque-University is important not only because of its beauty. It reflects the life of the inhabitants of Morocco for many centuries. Each era, every ruler left in the architecture of Al-Karaouine its indelible mark.
How to get there?
You can reach Fes in Morocco by taxi or bus, which rides with a periodicity of 30 minutes. By the very same city, tourists prefer to move on foot, as each building here deserves special attention.
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