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Knowledge

The libraries, the scholars, the transmission of learning across the medieval Mediterranean world.

The Library That Has Been Burning for 1,100 Years

Founded in 859 by a woman. Restored in 2016 by another. Al-Qarawiyyin holds 4,000 manuscripts and a 1,200-year argument about what counts as a university.

Al-Qarawiyyin in Fes is either the oldest university in the world or it is not, depending on which historian you ask. What is not disputed: Fatima al-Fihri founded it in 859, it has been teaching continuously for over a thousand years, and its library holds manuscripts that predate most European institutions.

The Thirteen Windows

In 1357, a hydraulic clock was unveiled on a street in Fes. It told the time with water, weights, and bronze bowls. Nobody alive knows exactly how it worked.

Dar al-Magana sits on Tala'a Kebira in the heart of Fes el-Bali, directly opposite the Bou Inania Madrasa. Built in 1357 by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris, it housed a hydraulic clock that told time using water, weights, and bronze bowls. The clock has been silent for centuries, and no one has been able to make it work again.

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