Medersa El Attarine

Medina

The date, fig and walnut stall next to the entrance of the Medersa El-Attarine deep in the ancient Medina of Fes, Morocco.

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Founded in 1325 in the heart of the medina, this school is a marvel of elegant mosaic tiles, magnificent cut plaster as fine as lace and beautiful original carved cedar. A renovation in 2019 opened the upstairs rooms as well, so you can get a taste of student life – strikingly austere, though each room does have its own letterbox. The institution functioned as a kind of prep school; typically students here advanced to the adjacent Kairaouine University.