Medina (district)
Medina , Arabic مدينة عتيقة, DMG madīna ʿatīqa , old town ', is the name for the old town of Arab, mostly North African cities. In the Arabic language the word has the ultimate meaning “city”.
The largest medina in North Africa is that of the Moroccan city of Fās (Fas), in second place is that of Tunis with an area of 87 hectares. The medina of the Tunisian city of Al-Qairawān covers an area of 54 hectares.
The medinas are closely linked to Islam, as is clear from the following quote:
“Without reference to Islam, which gave the old Arab city founding its fixed forms and structures, the Medina [...] remains a chaotic-looking maze of alleys in which one inevitably loses one's orientation. In reality, every medina, from the Friday mosque , is organized according to irrefutable principles. Although the Friday mosque always marks the religious center of every old town, the largest house of prayer does not necessarily have to be in the center of the old town. The various districts, connected by winding main streets, are connected around the dominating Friday mosque. The quarters themselves are divided into several building groups, and access to the apartment entrances often ends in a cul-de-sac which, strictly speaking, only residents are allowed to enter. According to the Muslim Holy Book, each residential area, whose households each share an infrastructure consisting of an oven, hammam (bath), Koran school and grocery store, is reserved for a specific group of society. [...] The more distinguished city dwellers once lived near the Friday Mosque, with the highest-ranking family usually living in the building at the end of the cul-de-sac. "
However, the medinas have changed a lot over the past hundred years. Numerous smaller medinas in southern Tunisia were abandoned at all. Thomas Veser says in his article that if this development continues, “the Medina will probably completely lose its role as the central reference system of Maghreb society in the foreseeable future ”.
Several Medinas were from UNESCO for World Heritage explained, such as the medinas of:
| Year 1 | Medina of the city ... | in… |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Fez |
 Morocco
|
| 1985 | Marrakech |
Morocco
|
| 1996 | Meknes |
Morocco
|
| 1997 | Tetouan |
Morocco
|
| 2001 | Essaouira |
Morocco
|
| 1979 | Tunis |
 Tunisia
|
| 1988 | Sousse |
Tunisia
|
| 1988 | Kairouan |
Tunisia
|
| 1993 | Zabid |
 Yemen
|
| 1986 | Aleppo |
 Syria
|
See also
- Mellah , the Jewish quarter of Moroccan cities
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Thomas Veser: The chaos of god-willed order. Tunisia's old towns are losing their historical significance. In: Extra. Weekend supplement to the Wiener Zeitung. August 14, 1998, p. 8.
- ↑ See UNESCO World Heritage List .