Bab Bou Jeloud
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Bab Bou Jeloud (also spelled Bab Boujeloud or Bab Boujloud) is an ornate
city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...
in
Fes el Bali Fes el Bali () is the oldest part of Fez, Morocco. It is one of the three main districts of Fez, along with Fes Jdid and the French protectorate in Morocco, French-created ''Ville Nouvelle (New City'). Together with Fes Jdid, it forms the Medina q ...
, the old city of Fez, Morocco. The current gate was built by the French colonial administration in 1913 to serve as the grand entrance to the old city.


Historical background

The name ''Bou Jeloud'' dates from well before the existence of the current gate. By one account, the name is a vernacular corruption of the expression Abu al-Junud ("Father of the troops"), referring to a parade ground or military square, in this case the large square known as '' Place Bou Jeloud'' (now also called ''Place el-Baghdadi'') just west of the gate. It is also located near the site of what used to be one of the main citadels of Fes el-Bali, the Kasbah Bou Jeloud, as well as near the Kasbah en-Nouar. The old Bab Bou Jeloud gate was a simple, modest gate that may have dated essentially from the 12th century. It gave access directly to the start of '' Tala'a Kebira'', the main souq street that crosses the
medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
and leads to the Qarawiyyin mosque and university at the heart of the city. The gate's passage was set at an angle perpendicular to Tala'a Kebira and parallel to the
city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...
, meaning that one entered sideways onto Tala'a Kebira. This type of configuration was fairly common in old Moroccan city gates, as it made it easier to defend and to control access. This original gate is still visible to the left of the current monumental gate (when facing it from the outside), but it is closed off today. After the advent of gunpowder and heavy artillery, the fortifications of old cities like Fez were no longer particularly useful as serious military defenses (though they were still effective at keeping out rural tribes who were poorly armed), and city gates took on a mostly decorative role. Following the establishment of the French Protectorate over Morocco in 1912, the French took over the administration of the city and appear to have wanted a grander entrance to the old city. The chief of municipal services, Captain Mellier, soon laid out plans in December 1912 to open a new entrance in the city walls. The city administration purchased and demolished a stables and three shops at the chosen site; a process which required careful negotiations as the shops were dedicated to the revenues of a charitable fund (a ''
waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
''). After this, construction took place in 1913. The new gate was designed to emulate
Moroccan architecture Moroccan architecture reflects Morocco's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military conquest. This architectural heritage includes ancient Roman sites, historic Islamic architec ...
and today it is an iconic sight of the historic medina of Fez. It still marks the main western entrance to the medina and the limit beyond which car traffic generally cannot pass into the historic city.


Description

The structure is a triple-arched gate that makes use of Moorish architectural forms, with pointed horseshoe arches and a crenelated top. Both the inner and outer facades are covered in
polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...
tiles featuring
arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...
s and Moroccan geometric motifs, with the outer facade predominantly blue and the interior facade predominantly green-ish. Strangely, the actual doors of the gate seem to close and lock from the outside; perhaps an indication that the French administration saw it partly as a means of controlling the movement of the inhabitants inside the medina. Beyond the gate, a small square ringed by shops and restaurants today gives access to both Tala'a Kebira and Tala'a Seghira, the main streets of the city leading towards the Qarawiyyin and the heart of the medina. The silhouettes of the
minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
s visible through the main arch when standing outside the gate are those of the Bou Inania Madrasa and the more recent Sidi Lazzaz Mosque.


See also

* Gates of Fez * Bou Jeloud Mosque


References

{{Fes Gates of Fez, Morocco