Fez is an unmissable museum city. Bustling and colorful, it offers astonishing settings, such as the medina of Fez el-Bali, one of the largest medieval-style cities in the world.
The city of Fez is divided into three parts: Fez el-Jedid (the half-old) and Fez el-Bali (the old) which form the medina, and Fez the young (new city) built by the French during the protectorate. and where the administrative district is located.
The medina is a dynamic space. It is not only a historic center reserved for bazaars and tourists, it is also an important economic center. Fez is one of the most important economic cities in the Kingdom, notably the second industrial city, and yet a large part of its economic activities is concentrated in the medina. These are essentially art industries. The main branches of this craft include carpentry with sculpture and painting on wood, wrought iron, chiseled copper, goldsmithing, ceramics, silk weaving and embroidery. All these trades are carried out in tiny workshops or in shops where the artisans use, for the most part, obsolete equipment. Concerning the corporation of ceramists, we see that many workshops no longer make efforts in the manufacture of their enamels and the care to be taken during firing. On the one hand, the pilot workshop formula, adopted at one time by the administration, allowed craftsmen to maintain their know-how and improve their production; on the other hand, the scale of royal orders in recent decades has led to the prosperity of certain sectors, notably that of architectural decoration crafts.
We are currently witnessing a monopoly of markets and distribution circuits between a minority; many artisans are finding it increasingly difficult to access the market and have the possibilities (material and financing) to produce better.
