Renovation project of the Medina of Fes

A renovation programme for the Medina of Fes, classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, was announced on Thursday by the Agency for the Development and Rehabilitation (Ader) of the spiritual capital of Morocco, for a cost estimated at 336,915,000 dirhams. The project, made public on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the creation of Ader, concerns 3,666 dwellings threatening to collapse, reported the MAP agency. Among them, "143 buildings" will be destroyed, according to the same source. Classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in the early 1980s, the Medina of Fes, which has about 160,000 inhabitants, is one of the oldest and largest (280 hectares) in the world. Its monuments, including its tanneries and the oldest Islamic university in the Arab-Muslim world (Quaraouiyine), make the Idrissid city founded at the end of the 8th century one of the main tourist destinations of the Kingdom. Last year, despite previous programmes for "treatment of buildings threatening ruin", more than 4,000 of its dwellings were nevertheless at risk of collapsing, according to official figures. At that date, spring bad weather had thus led to the death of one person in the collapse of two buildings. More than a dozen projects for demolitions alone have already been undertaken since. In 2013, a ceremony also marked the end of long renovation works on the "Slat Alfassiyine" synagogue, the Jewish community of Fes having been until the last century one of the most important in the country (up to 30,000 members). Other old cities in Morocco are facing the same problem, buildings threatening ruin, including those of Meknes, Rabat, and Casablanca. In 2012, the government had estimated at more than 114,000 the number of dwellings concerned across the entire territory.

Provider / Source : Libération