Chouara: The Oldest Tannery in the World

The Chouara tannery has operated on this site since the 11th century. The process has not changed in any fundamental way. Cow, sheep, and goat hides are soaked in quicklime to strip the hair, then washed in pigeon guano (the ammonia softens the leather), then dyed in stone vats using plant-based pigments: saffron for yellow, cedar for brown, poppy for red, indigo for blue, mint for green.

The tannery employs several hundred men. The work is physical, chemical, and relentless. Workers stand thigh-deep in the vats, treading the hides with their feet. The smell — a compound of lime, ammonia, decomposing flesh, and dye — is the thing every visitor mentions first. Guides hand out sprigs of fresh mint to hold under your nose. It helps slightly.

The Fes leather industry was once the city's primary export economy. The English word 'morocco' — meaning a type of fine leather — comes directly from Fes. Moroccan leather meant Fassi leather.

You do not enter the tannery itself — you view it from the surrounding leather shop terraces. Access is free, but the shopkeepers expect you to at least look at their products. Buying is not obligatory. A tip of 20 MAD to the person who leads you upstairs is customary.

The mint sprig they give you is genuine advice, not theatre. Use it.

Morning is best for photography — the vats catch direct sunlight before noon. In the afternoon, the buildings cast shadow across half the compound. The most vivid colours appear when the vats have been freshly filled with dye, which varies by day and season.

The tannery is deep inside Fes el-Bali, the old medina. Navigation is difficult — consider following signs to Derb Chouwara or asking for 'tanneries.' Everyone in Fes knows where they are.