Chouara Tannery

Seen from the terraces of the surrounding houses, the Chouara Tannery looks like a giant honeycomb: rows of round stone vats packed side by side, some filled with a chalky white liquid, others with dyes in shades of red, orange and blue, with hides laid out to dry in the sun around them and workers moving between the basins. It is the largest of the three tanneries of Fez and one of the oldest, and it lies in the heart of Fes el Bali, the medieval walled medina, close to the Saffarin Madrasa and the Oued Fes river that the tanners have always depended on.

Fez itself was founded at the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th century, and the old city along the river grew into one of the great centres of the Islamic world; its medina has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Local tradition holds that the Chouara Tannery goes back to the city's foundation under Idris II in the early 9th century. Its exact age is uncertain, but tanning was a major industry here from early on: under the Almohads in the late 12th century the city was said to count 86 tanning workshops, and leather from Fez was prized as far away as Baghdad. The tanneries were enlarged and reworked many times over the centuries.

The craft is still done largely by hand, in much the same way as in the past. Cow, sheep, goat and camel hides are first soaked for two or three days in white baths made from mixtures of quicklime, salt, water, cow urine and pigeon droppings, which clean and soften the skins. They are then steeped in dye vats coloured with natural materials such as poppy for red, indigo for blue and henna for orange, and finally dried in the sun before passing to the craftsmen who turn them into bags, jackets, shoes and the pointed slippers known as babouches. The pungent smell is part of the place. In the 21st century the tannery and its surroundings were restored as part of a wider effort to rehabilitate the Fez river, and the tanners stayed where they had always worked.

Getting there

The tannery is in the Fes el Bali medina of Fez, near Place Seffarine, and is reached on foot through the old city's lanes. The nearest airport is Fes–Saïss International Airport (FEZ), about 15 km away.