Fez - Morocco, your guide to some places shouldn't be missed

In recent years, Fez has become a popular tourist destination. Money has flowed from riads in the medina sold to foreigners to new landscaped parks and fountains in the new city.
According to the luxurious advertisements of Western magazines, Fez is the new Marrakech.

Sidi Ahmed Tijani Mosque

This mausoleum mosque contains the tomb of one of the great saints of the city. Sidi Ahmed, one of the grand grand childs of the prophet Mohammed and originally from Algeria. Warmly welcomed in Fez by Sultan Moulay Sliman (18th century), Tijani took advantage of favorable conditions to organize, consolidate and disseminate the Tariqa (brotherhood) which bears his name: La Tijania. This spread both in the Maghreb and in sub-Saharan Africa.

Moulay Idriss Mausoleum

Dedicated to the patron saint of Fez, it is located between Place Nejjarine and the Attarine souk and is home to the tomb of Moulay Idriss II founder of Fez.

It is the first holy place in Fez. Access is prohibited to non-Muslims. But going around the left from the women's door, you can see through one of the openings the courtyard of the mosque, then the room housing the tomb of the patron saint and founder of the city.

The ban on access to religious sites by non-Muslims dates from 1914 by a law enacted by Marshal Lyautey. Previously, the sites were open to all believers, but the behavior of the soldiers who came there in muddy boots eventually led to a restriction.

Weapons museum

The Arms Museum is located in a 16th century military fort. It was built in 1582 on the orders of Sultan Ahmed El Mansour to monitor and protect the city of Fez against foreign threats. In 1963, this fort became the weapons museum, housing the collection of "Dar snah".

Different collections are presented there, hunting and defense weapons dating from prehistoric times through a Moroccan bronze cannon dating back to the 16th century, in total more than 1,000 pieces distributed in 15 different rooms.

Previously installed at the Batha Palace, this collection comes largely from the Makina, an arsenal founded by Sultan Moulay Hassan 1 at the end of the 19th century.

EXHIBITION LAYOUT

The total number of pieces exhibited at the Borj-Nord Arms Museum is 1,089 spread over 15 rooms. Their layout is as follows:

Entrance: There are two sabers and two rifles from southern Morocco.

Room 1: It preserves axes, pebbles, peduncles, choppers and other weapons representing hunting and defense in prehistoric ages.

Room 2: It includes knives: poles, daggers, axes, spades, spears, halberds, falcons and pertuisan then sabers from Morocco and various countries: Indonesia, Algeria, India, China, Turkey, Sudan, Vietnam, Germany, Spain, Italy, Persia and England. Daggers also from Morocco and several other countries such as the 17th century Indonesian dagger known as the royal dynasty of Mataram. This dagger was donated to the museum by the governor of JAKARTA. Horse harnesses from Morocco and Algeria are also on display.

Room 3: It presents military objects: Polish helmet, helmets, shields and Iranian armbands from the beginning of the XIXth century. copies of Italian shields of different forms carrying several representations of scenes of little, an Italian weapon and another French.

Room 4: There are photographs of different fortifications, for example the Krak and Kalat Maggîna, a copy of Italian swordfish from the 15th century, three mortars including one with wooden support and rampart rifles from the 17th century to the 19th century.

Room 5: There are exposed two types of flint and spinning plates, bale dispensers with accessories. ball molds. spare parts. and explosive from the end of the 19th century recovered at the Makina in Fez. as well as various types of rifles from the fifteenth century. with the spinning plate. until the 19th century with feed from magazine with magazine. There is also a Hotchkis machine gun from the early 20th century.

Room 6: it retains a French machine gun that was used in the First World War (1914-1918). another Belgian submachine gun manufactured in Brussels in 1871. There are also Moroccan firearms and magazines that show the difference between the south, the north and the Middle Atlas. They take various aspects depending on the regions and the materials of their manufacture. They are round, oval, flat or pear-shaped or horn-shaped. Some are covered with nails, leather, silver and engraved with abstract designs. We also find blunderbuttons, rifles with bayonets which transform them into pikes at the time of the melee, and whose various systems were used for example: the fitting in the mouth of the rifle or the fixing by socket around its barrel. Still there are cartridges of projectiles, explosives, powder, bullets, bullet loaders, rifles of Islamic and European countries, as well as those of the type spencer of great rapidity used in the American war of 1865 .

Room 7: This room contains rifles and carbines from several European and American countries with different percussion systems.

Room 8: It presents only revolvers from the old manufacturing of the XVIth century to the automatic pistols of the first half of the XXth century. The collection of American colts is remarkable.

Room 9: This room is dedicated to hunting. So there are crossbows, a sling, an African buffalo head, spears, a trap. hunting and rifle ammunition, two Tunisian hunting rifles accompanied by an ivory powder magazine and European hunting rifles, one of which dates from the 15th century and is the museum's oldest rifle.

Room 10: There are specially Moroccan cannons, including one in bronze dating back to the 17th century, and European, including a Spanish made in 1606, four Geripoval type cannons dating from 1763 and another offered by King GUSTAVE III of Sweden in Sultan of Morocco. There are also cannon balls with various diameters and Moroccan-made equipment for cleaning the cannons (Lantern - Refouloir - Swab).

Room 11 - 12 - 13: This group of rooms includes: the rifles of the North and the South of Morocco which seem to have been used during the battle of Oued El Makhazine in 1578; city ​​or country swords and small "Sboula" swords.

Room 14: There are two Moroccan horse saddles from the 19th century.

Room 15: It presents a beautiful collection of daggers from the XIXth century richly decorated (chiseled, niellates ...), the most remarkable of which are: the one with the peacock tail pommel and the one with the pommel in the shape of a gendarme hat.

Exit: There are exposed two rifles from northern Morocco and a Moroccan bronze cannon dating back to the 16th century. This is the largest and majestic work in the museum (it weighs 12 T for 4.80 m in length), its wooden and bronze cart is displayed outside the museum near the exit. According to oral tradition this gigantic cannon, called "SIDI MIMOUN", was used during the battle of the three Kings.

Price: 15 dhs per person

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