The Funduq al-Shamma'in or Foundouk Chemmaïne () is a medieval ''funduq'' (urban

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

) in

Fes Fez () or Fes (; ) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. It is one of the largest cities in Morocco, with a population of 1.256 million, according to the 2024 census. Located to the nort ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. It is also directly adjoined by another funduq structure, the Funduq al-Sbitriyyin. Together, the two form a combined architectural complex sometimes referred to as the Funduq Shamma'in-Sbitriyyin (or Foundouk Chemmaine-Sbitriyine). Both are located side by side just west of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in the heart of the historic

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, ...

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-created ''Ville Nouvelle (New City'). Together with Fes Jdid, it forms the medina (historic quarter) of Fez, signif ...

Origin of name

The name ''Funduq ash-Shamma'in'' () means "inn/hotel of the candle-makers", referring to the '' souq'' (market) of the candle-makers situated along the street of the same name on the north side of the building. The souq name is also shared with the nearest gate and entrance of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, ''Bab al-Shamma'in'' (), which was crafted in the Almoravid period. The name of the adjacent funduq, ''Sbitriyyin'', means "string-makers", referring to the market for these vendors situated in the alley on the east side of the funduqs. Once again, one of the entrance doors to the Qarawiyyin Mosque, ''Bab Sbitriyyin'', at the end of this lane, is named after them.

History

The building is generally dated to the 13th century, though some sources attribute its foundation to the Almoravid period (11th-12th centuries). The funduq is known to have been restored in 1290 or 1293 CE (689 or 292 AH) under the

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

sultan Abu Ya'qub (r. 1286-1307), at which time it was endowed to the habous (''

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 ...

'') of the nearby Qarawiyyin Mosque (in other words, its revenues became contributions to the funds of the mosque). Accordingly, the funduq may have existed before this restoration, as the 14th-century writer al-Jazna'i claims. This makes it among the oldest remaining funduqs in the medina, although it has undergone many heavy restorations in its history. The adjacent Funduq Sbitriyyin is less discussed in existing literature but is believed to be very old as well. One guidebook attributes it to 13th century, like its neighbour. The Shamma'in Funduq was one of the major buildings of its kind in Fes, thanks in part to its central location near the most important commercial and religious buildings in the city (e.g. the Qarawiyyin Mosque, its nearby

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s, and the major

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

known as the Kissaria al-Kifah). Like a number of other funduqs, it served as a commercial center where merchants could store their goods and animals on the ground floor while the upper floors served as lodging for merchants and travelers. In the case of the Funduq Shamma'in, its ground-floor courtyard served as an

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

market for olives and dried fruits while its upper floors were occupied by artisan workshops, particularly of

shoemakers Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or '' cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cen ...

. It was also one of the central locations in the city where one could rent

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s. The adjacent Funduq Sbitriyyin served as an auction market for goat skins and other leather products (different products were sold in the same place but at different times of the day), which also earned it the name ''Funduq el-Jeld'' (). Its upper floors were occupied by artisans. The Funduq Shamma'in has been seriously damaged by fires at least twice in its history, the last of which was in 1974. The only part of the building to survive relatively intact was its entrance vestibule, which preserved important examples of Marinid-period carved decoration in

cedar wood Cedar is part of the English common name of many trees and other plants, particularly those of the genus ''Cedrus''. Some botanical authorities consider the Old-World ''Cedrus'' the only "true cedars". Many other species worldwide with similarly ...

and an inscription in

Kufic The Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script, that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts ...

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...

. Both the Funduq Shamma'in and the Funduq Sbitriyyin were most recently restored in 2016 and reopened in 2018 as centers for traditional crafts in the medina of Fes. Since the restoration, the Funduq Shamma'in's original woodwork elements are on display in the courtyard.

References

{{coord, 34, 03, 51.9, N, 4, 58, 26.8, W, type:landmark, display= title Buildings and structures in Fez, Morocco Marinid architecture Caravanserais in Morocco