The Sidi Moussa Tannery or Guerniz Tannery is a historic

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

facility located in the heart of Fes el-Bali, the historic ''

medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

'' of

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. The tannery is located in the Guerniz neighbourhood, near the

Zawiya of Moulay Idris II The Zawiya of Moulay Idris II is a ''zaouia, zawiya'' (an Islamic shrine and religious complex, also spelled ''zaouia'') in Fes, Fez, Morocco. It contains the tomb of Idriss II, Idris II (or Moulay Idris II when including his sharifian title), w ...

and the

Nejjarine Museum Funduq al-Najjarin ( ar, فندق النجارين, lit=Inn of the carpenters) (also spelled ''Fondouk (el-)Nejjarine'') is a historic ''funduq'' (a caravanserai or traditional inn) in Fes el Bali, the old medina quarter in the city of Fez, Moroc ...

History

Local tradition holds that the Sidi Moussa Tannery is the oldest in the city and that, along with the Chouara Tannery further east, it dates from the city's foundation by

Idris II Idris bin Idris ( ar, إدريس بن إدريس) known as Idris II ( ar, إدريس الثاني) (August 791 – August 828), was the son of Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty in Morocco. He was born in Walīlī two months after the de ...

(beginning of the 9th century). The ''

Rawd al-Qirtas ''Rawḍ al-Qirṭās'' ( ar, روض القرطاس) short for ''Kitāb al-ānīs al-muṭrib bi-rawḍ al-qirṭās fī ākhbār mulūk al-maghrab wa tārīkh madīnah Fās'' ('', The Entertaining Companion Book in the Gardens of Pages from the Ch ...

'', a historical chronicle, makes more definitive reference to the Sidi Moussa Tannery's existence in the early 12th century. The tanneries are built on the site of water source (called '''Ayn ad-Debbaghin'') that emerges at this location. Historical sources show that tanneries were a major industry even in the city's early history and were tied to a large part of its economy. The products of the city's tanneries were valued enough that they were exported all the way to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. Al-Jazna'i claims that the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire f ...

(late 12th to early 13th century) counted a total of 86 tanning workshops in the city, while a later source claims that there were around a hundred in the

Marinid The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

period (late 13th to 15th centuries). Historically, the Sidi Moussa Tannery specialized in treating cow skins. The city's tanneries continued to be expanded or modified on several occasions even into modern times. In recent years the tanneries of the city have undergone restorations alongside efforts to reduce the amount of pollution they generate within the medina. Physical and structural restorations of the Sidi Moussa Tannery were completed in 2015. As part of this restoration effort, a new plan was also drawn up to lessen the most polluting activities at the tannery by having some steps of the tanning process take place at new facilities outside the old city instead. This move was scheduled to be completed by the end 2018.

References

{{Fes Buildings and structures in Fez, Morocco Tanneries