Fez Tannery Canvas Print, Fez Morocco, Morocco Cityscape, Morocco Travel Print, Tannery Print, Morocco Wall Art
Fez Tannery Canvas Print, Fez Morocco, Morocco Cityscape, Morocco Travel Print, Tannery Print, Morocco Wall Art
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Fez is the second largest city in Morocco, and it has unique attractions within its city walls, like the Tanneries. Fez is home to the world's largest "walled city" or Medina that has over 250,000 inhabitants within its walls. There is an entire city living, working, praying, schooling within this medina, truly fascinating. When I arrived into the medina to walk to my hotel (riad), I was told "not to ever walk alone within the narrow, winding streets or you will get lost especially at night". After arriving at my hotel, I completely understood why you need a local guide to walk around the medina. The streets were winding, narrow, have no street names, dead ends and very little signage - all combining to getting lost quick. However, I was totally impressed with the colors of the walls, doors, tile work, tapestries, clothing, etc. are deep, bold and vibrant. I love bright, bold and rich colors.
I was always fascinated by the images of tanneries being located with the city, so I needed to go and capture some of my own images. You could tell that we arrived at one of the tanneries because the smell of ammonia and raw hide is overwhelming. In fact it's so bad they gave you strong herbs to hold under your nose as you breathed to reduce the odor. This tannery facility was a very special sight to see. Tightly built with the walls of a neighborhood, this tannery was busy softening and dying their cowhide skins. The skins are first cured using archaic ingredients (including cow urine, quicklime and pigeon feces - the white vats in the image), and then laid out to dry in the sunshine, these can be seen hanging from the walls. Then the skins are placed into the colored dying vats (brown vats in the foreground of the image) to give the desired color to the leather. The sight of the multi-colored dyeing vats in the central courtyard is not to be missed.
After capturing a number of images, I left the terrace overlook and moved into the leather goods sales shop to browse the hundreds of locally handmade leather products. The Tanneries in Fez Morocco, is a must see on your list when visiting Fez.
