The ancient city of Fez seems to be a maze set for modern people in ancient times. Even if you have a modern electronic map, 9,000 densely intertwined alleys, bazaars along the street, various ceramics, leather, carpets, printing and dyeing workshops, and countless small shops and stalls, you will certainly be at a loss. To travel to Morocco, Fez is essential for anyone who is on the travel itinerary. As the center of Islamic culture in Morocco, tourists are fascinated not only by the ancient buildings in Fez, but also by family factories that cannot be replaced by the industrial revolution.
The guide took us through the alleys of the ancient city of Fez and enjoyed the palaces, temples and handicraft workshops where Islamic characteristics and ancient Jewish culture blended. In the market, dried fruits and herbs are mixed with the smell of leather and dyes, plus dazzling porcelain, carpets, wallets and bronzes. Therefore, the ancient city of Fez has become a world cultural heritage, which makes people somewhat lost in this handicraft city.
Dazzling blue mosaic ceramics
We went to a restaurant called Poteriede.
Fes ceramic workshop is a small factory that still retains the ruins of ancient kiln. The factory uses a small yard to separate the areas of different processes. There are many craftsmen in every area who meticulously make porcelain, from the blank of clay, coloring, firing, tracing and pasting. They are used to tourists' onlookers and ignore the flash of the cameras around them.
Some mosaic ceramics in Festou are completely different from those in China. Blue mosaic ceramics are made of a kind of gray mineral clay in Festou, and the color is mainly blue. Use small porcelain tiles to make various colors and complex patterns and stick them on the walls of the house, even on washbasins, bowls and plates. The local name is Zillige. Fez's mosaic ceramics are decorated with colorful decorations, some of which are similar to cloisonne in China, but cloisonne is a combination of copper and ceramics, while blue mosaic ceramics are a combination of clay and porcelain.
Chinese porcelain and cloisonne crafts are elegant and exquisite, while Moroccan ceramics are colorful, passionate and strong in style. Every product is a unique handmade product, with similar colors and different pieces, which is impossible for industrialized assembly lines. It has its unique charm and value, and the workshop-style small factory can be maintained today.
During the trip to the ancient city of Fez, visitors from any country are most interested in ceramic workshops and factories. These blue Zillige, from washbasins, desktops, ceilings and floor tiles, to jars, cups, kettles, bowls and plates, involve every element of life, from luxury goods of 10,000 yuan to more than a dozen lovely small plates. Visitors have their own value and can buy them.
Low-key luxury Moroccan carpet
Through the narrow alley, I walked into a family. Although the door is unremarkable, there is a hole in it. This is a handmade carpet factory. Entering the building, it is a courtyard patio with three or four floors, and all kinds of carpets pour down like waterfalls, just like a fairyland. There are several women knitting carpets in the attic. If it is a production, it is more like a production demonstration for tourists.
The most famous carpet in Morocco is the Berber carpet. As the oldest nomadic people in Africa, Berbers worship nature. Carpets are mainly sand, rock brown and African camel, with patterns of desert ripples, camels and plants. The local Berbers are also influenced by Islam, Arabia and culture, and patterns such as the moon, the moon and the hand of Fatima will also be reflected on the carpet.
Morocco's handmade carpets look very thick, but in fact, the materials are exquisite. Even simple geometric patterns are exquisite and durable. A good carpet can last for generations. It is not cheap to buy a good pure wool carpet in Morocco. Pure wool carpet is made of pure plant dyes, which is expensive. Although Morocco has modern factories that produce carpets in large quantities, ranging from tens of dollars to two or three hundred dollars a meter, wealthy families all over the world prefer unique hand-woven carpets. Beni
Ourain, TapisAzilal and other expensive carpets are called soft gold. Hand-made carpets are four or five times the price of mechanically processed carpets, with a price of 10,000 yuan or even higher, which can be described as low-key luxury.
"notorious" leather processing factory
Fez also has a "notorious" place, but tourists must go. It is a leather manual processing factory in Fez. The oldest factory has a history of thousands of years, and several famous leather factories have become tourist attractions in Fez. It feels like selling leather products by the way. The guide limply took me into a room full of leather products and picked up a mint leaf for me to smell in front of my nose. The cool mint smell still can't hide the pungent smell of leather products. No wonder I was dubbed as "notorious".
Through the room with all kinds of purses and shoes hanging on the wall, the shop assistant sells purses to several foreign tourists. Moroccan sales are very convincing. Let me start with the skins of cattle, sheep and camels, and tell you how these skins are dyed with pure plants such as flowers. Safflower comes from poppy, beige comes from pomegranate, green comes from mint and brown comes from henna to let you know that they are not modern industrial products. It's hard not to be moved by their sincere and enthusiastic eyes. These leather bags and shoes in front of us may be a little complicated or even a little rustic, but they are all hand-sewn unlike the leather bags produced by the assembly line.
The people in the leather factory knew that we were here to take photos, skipped the sales promotion and took me directly to the balcony of the room. At first glance, the backyard is a huge brown terrace, with dye vats of stone or soil connected together, like a hive full of colorful dyes.
Workers are as busy as bees, and the skins peeled from animals are piled white. The first step is tanning. The processing method of tanning leather in modern factories is to remove the protein from the residual flesh of leather with alum and sodium sulfate to make leather soft. Fez's old leather method is to soak it in cow urine, quicklime and salt first, then soak it in pigeon dung to soften it and then dye it. Although the materials are all natural, the pungent smell can't be dispersed in the factory for a long time. I picked up a small piece of tanned sheepskin, which was dyed and soft to the touch. It is said that many famous leather brands in Europe are from Fez.
Dark clothes dyeing house
In Fez, people pay more attention to leather processing plants. In fact, there are many cloth and clothes dyeing houses on the street. On one side of the alley is a pool soaked with dark dyes, and piles of robes and saris are piled up beside the pool. This is very much like China in the 1970s and 1980s. In those days, we bought cloth, dyed it in our favorite color, and sewed it. The other thing is similar. Dark color is the main color.
Moroccans wear robes for men and women. Women are mainly black, and there may be bright clothes such as blue on holiday occasions. Men's robes are mainly camel and brown, and the best robes are wool. There are still many dyehouses in the ancient city of Fez, where clothes are dyed. Although the smell of these dyes is not as exciting as the smell of leather processing factories, tourists can't stand the smell of dyes when they walk through the dye shops on the street, and they can't help but speed up and pass quickly.
Workers wearing rubber shoes fished out clothes, scarves, silk floss and other materials from the dye vat and hung them on the wall next to the alley to dry. The dye flowed to the ground and the street was dyed black. The owner of a dyehouse stood in front of the door, and I raised my camera to take a picture of him. He nodded warmly and happily asked me to take a picture of him. The handwork of the dyeing house can easily be replaced by the factory assembly line. I don't know how long these dyehouses will last, but maybe they will just become a tourist attraction in the future.
Aladdin's lamp-like bronze ware
Walking in the alleys of the ancient city of Fez, you will be fascinated by all kinds of small commodity shops, especially the glittering bronze shops. The bronzes in Fez ancient city include not only copper cups, pots, plates and basins, but also candlesticks and lampshades. The shopkeeper put a lamp behind the copper lampshade, and the light penetrated the delicate patterns of the bronze wares, creating a dreamy scene with the feeling of Aladdin's magic lamp.
Almost all bronzes are made by hand, not by machine. Only in this way can they have a unique texture and cultural and historical charm. In front of the shop, I saw craftsmen beating the copper skin with small hammers. After "tempering", it is slowly shaped into a plate or lampshade, looking at the patterns carved on the bronze ware a little. This is the organic crystallization of mental and physical labor. There is a huge lampshade with extremely delicate patterns on it. I don't know how many days it will take to make this lampshade. There is also a very delicate jewelry box. I can't believe that such exquisite patterns are all handmade, not to mention those daily necessities, pots and pans are knocked a lot. I feel that all daily necessities can be made by hand.
In front of a bronze shop, I met two artists dressed in Moroccan national costumes. They beat gongs and drums and sang Moroccan folk songs for tourists. I'm filming a bronze shop, and the craftsmen in the shop are still beating the bronze in their hands. The tinkling sound seems to add a concerto to the artists' Moroccan folk songs.
In bolger.
A highland opposite sud Castle overlooks the panoramic view of the ancient city of Fez, which has been sleeping for thousands of years. Shepherds pass leisurely with dogs and sheep, and scenes of various workshops and factories in Fez come to mind. The industrial revolution replaced manual production with machines, which brought high production efficiency, but it still could not eliminate manual manufacturing, an ancient industry bearing cultural values. Although handcraft will never become the mainstream of industrial production, as a world cultural heritage, it has become a way of cultural nostalgia. People are intoxicated in this legendary ancient city and lost in the ocean of ancient culture.