Medersa Attarine
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The Medersa Attarine in Fès is a former Koran school in Morocco . Together with other buildings, it is part of the Medina of Fès, which UNESCO recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1981 .
location
The Medersa Attarine is located in the center of the old town ( medina ) of Fès-el-Bali immediately next to the Kairaouine mosque and adjacent to the souq of the spice and perfume dealers ( Suq al-'Attarin ), from which its name is derived.
history
The medersa was built between 1323 and 1325 by order of the Merinid sultan Abu Said Uthman . It was in use until the beginning of the 20th century.
architecture
The outwardly inconspicuous, brick- built Koran school - not visible at any point - consists of several parts: an approximately 3 m² large anteroom, an approximately 7 × 10 m measuring inner courtyard with a central fountain shell made of marble, an adjoining approximately 5 × 6 m measuring Prayer room with a mihrab niche (theoretically) facing east ( Mecca ) and an annex room in which the living and sleeping cells of the Koran students are located.
Vestibule
The entrance portal to the inner courtyard in the anteroom, which is richly covered with stucco decoration and finished off with a precisely crafted Artesonado ceiling, is closed with a Maschrabiyya lattice cabinet made of turned wooden rods .
court
The floor of the uncovered inner courtyard shows a multicolored tile mosaic made of larger slabs, which surrounds the square marble surround and the small, round tile mosaic in the immediate vicinity of the central fountain bowl; The base zone of the wall is also decorated with small mosaic up to a height of approx. 1.50 m - above it there is a band of inscriptions with quotations from the Koran made of black glazed tiles. Several presented or free-standing columns protrude into the central zone richly decorated with stucco ornaments ( muqarnas arches and diamond patterns ). The upper part of the inner courtyard walls consists of carved cedar beams that had to be brought from the mountains of the Middle and High Atlas . Overall, there is an extremely decorative interplay of different materials (tiles, stucco and wood) with a diverse repertoire of shapes.
Prayer room
An entrance arch with muqarna ornaments leads over to the prayer room, whose floor and wall decoration in the lower area is much simpler than in the inner courtyard. Above this, however, there is a finely crafted stucco decoration, which culminates in the design of the cap of the mihrab niche. Another highlight is the artesonado ceiling, the lower part of which is broken several times. A bronze chandelier consisting of several rings hangs down from the ceiling, which probably dates from the time the Medersa was built.
Annex building
The living and sleeping chambers of the Koran students in the annex building, which can be entered from the anteroom, are extremely cramped and completely unadorned.
ornamentation
The ornamental decorations of the medersa, which cover all floors and almost all wall segments in horror-vacui fashion, show almost exclusively abstract-geometric motifs, which in principle can be lined up endlessly. Vegetable forms are only partially recognizable; figurative jewelry is completely absent (see ban on images in Islam ).
literature
- Arnold Betten: Morocco. Antiquity, Berber Traditions and Islam - History, Art and Culture in the Maghreb. DuMont, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 978-3-7701-3935-4 , p. 178f.
Web links
- Fès, Medersas - photos + brief information
- Medersa Attarine - short video onYouTube
- Medersa Attarine - photo + brief information (French)
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′ 54 " N , 4 ° 58 ′ 24" W.