Fes is an important focal point for communications between the Mediterranean and black Africa, and between the Atlantic and the eastern part of North Africa.

 It is also the intellectual and religious center of Morocco; set like a jewel within its ramparts, Fes is undoubtedly the most precious of Moroccan cities.

 It is also the oldest of the imperial cities, a holy place with a shifting, cosmopolitan population whose influence has extended far and wide during its long history. Far from being a historical monument, it is a living city and a very busy one at that.

 The famous quarter of Fes el-Bali, for example, is where immigrants form as far a field as Cordoba in Spain and Kairouan in Tunisia settled in the ninth century. The dazzlingly white section of the city known as Fes el-Jedid (New Fes) was built by the Marinids in the thirteenth century. The narrow streets, houses, shops, gardens, and mosques teem with people, and the abundance of foodstuffs and other products from all over Africa and beyond recall the city's heyday, when caravans laden with spices, silk, and gold halted at this important and popular staging post. Wheat, beans, citrus fruit, aubergines, meat, fish, and pastries are bought and sold in much the same way as they were in medieval times.

 Fes is also the capital of Moroccan craftsmanship. Much of the credit for the extraordinary beauty of its mosques, palaces, medersas (Koranic schools), and fountains lies with its skillful decorative artists, woodcarvers, mosaic-makers, and ceramists. In fact, the artisans of Fes are renowned throughout the Muslim world. The mosaics and zelliges - the wonderful blue, green, white, or black ceramic panels used to decorate floors and walls - are complex and subtle. The ornate, sinuous motifs and overall richness of decoration reflect the Andalusia influence, and the dominant color, blue, creates a cool, cheerful effect. In every district of the medina (each of which is almost an independent entity) there are masterpieces adhering closely to the traditions of Hispano-Islamic art.

 Fes's omnipresent decorative arts are the legacy of generations of sultans with sophisticated tastes. They, too, were responsible for its status as a city of learning and culture, centered on the famous university mosque of Qarawiyin and the city's seven medersas or Koranic schools. Particularly during the Marinid era, the sultans were determined to make this imperial city a place of intellectual fervor.

 So rich and fertile was this tradition of knowledge that it shaped the spirit of Fes for centuries. The city earned a reputation for insubordination and rebelliousness, which struck fear into the hearts of some of the sultans, just as it did the French when they invaded Morocco. The word istikal, independence, echoed constantly around the walls of the Qarawiyin Mosque during the forty-four years of the French protectorate.