page_title: Architecture of Fez
section_title: Islamic
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Fez / Other culture's influences on the architecture / Islamic
caption_attribution_description: Español: Patrón geométrico islámico en el Museo de Marrakech, MarruecosEnglish: Islamic geometric patterns, Marrakesh Museum
context_page_description: As Morocco is situated in Northern Africa, bordering both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, its location has made it vulnerable to other culture's influences. This has contributed greatly to the architecture's uniqueness. The amalgamation of styles from Mediterranean, African, Persian and Islamic cultures has resulted in the establishment of its own distinctive style, becoming unlike any other culture. As such, the architecture of Fez has developed the reputation of being the "Athens of Africa" due to its architecture encapsulating a blend of Arab and Persian cultures.
  Unlike any other Medina in Morocco, Fez epitomises the traditional lifestyle of Morocco most notably due to instituting a large majority of the religious, civil and military sites. It is often considered the cultural and spiritual centre of Morocco. Hence, Fez is renowned for the survival of its diversity in architectural structures, such as mosques, hammâns, riads, souks, ramparts, palaces and madrasas. Each serve a different purpose towards shaping the urban structure of the Medina, and therefore have their own distinctive architectural style.
context_section_description: The use of zellige tiling has become integrated into the architecture as a result of Islamic influence. In Arabic, zellige translates to “little polished stone”. Zellige tiling is a technique where individual glazed terracotta tiles are organised to form a composition of geometric patterns, in order to create unique spatial decorations. Blue, green and yellow colours were used with zellige tiling during the Marinid dynasty. Red was introduced in the 17th century, whilst natural colours did not become integrated until the 20th century.
  The Islamic belief that art, architecture or any functional mediums should not incorporate figures of living creatures resulted in the development non-figurative art techniques, such as geometric patterns. Geometric patterns are formed by a series of basic structural shapes and rhythmic linear designs to produce one larger, overarching tessellated pattern. This is a type of arabesque style and is common in architecture in Fez due to the Islamic influence.
  Fountains have also evolved to become an integral component of architecture in Fez due to the Islamic influence. This is because water is used in ritual ablation for Islamic's, which is conducted prior to prayer, and also as it is considered to be a depiction of paradise.
caption: Zellige tilework forms eccentric, colourful patterns
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