The prestigious Al-Quaraouiine University required housing for hundreds of foreign students. Under the Marinids, as Fes became a high center of Islamic civilization, it was endowed with 11 “madrasas” (Koranic schools), which are jewels of Hispano-Moorish art.
Built in 1355 on Tala’a al-Kbira Street by the great sovereign Abu Inan, the eponymous “Bou Inania” madrasa served as a college and student residence, but also as a grand mosque where an imam led Friday prayers, the holy day of Islam. The central courtyard, paved with marble and onyx, is entirely lined with cedar wood, polychrome earthenware mosaics, and plaster finely carved by the best craftsmen of Fes.
