The Royal Palace of Fes (and a lot of mosaics!)

Another royal palace which is not open to the public. However, the exterior boasts seven glorious brass doors, representing the 7 days of the week. The brass is kept shining by cleaning with lemon juice only, or so we were told. 

There was no way for me to get a decent photo, because the whole facade is so enormous that there is no way to capture it on an iPhone camera. You might look at the photo on the Wikipedia site here.

These are remarkable examples of Moroccan tile work--so many patterns creating such wonderfully delicate textures. But those patterns are themselves each intricate and different, and you only get the overall harmonious patterns because of the enormous scale. 

Let's look at one of the doors.

The doors themselves are carved or embossed. The first six feet on either side is a single pattern up to the height of the white columns, with a different pattern along the sides, and two other patterns edging the top and bottom.

The horseshoe shape above the door is composed of about 4 different circular patterns, each one basically the size of a patio table. Additional patterns surmount the horseshoe, then frame the entire door, then frame the framing, with a final frame in shades of green that connect the door with the frieze-like panels above it, themselves framed by more white columns and boasting a riot of patterns.

Here you can see them more distinctly. (Boy, that iPhone camera works great, doesn't it?)

Here is a chance to look at each of the individual elements. Remember what we learned about how the craftsmen have to memorize the pattern, because they construct each panel face down? That's the same technique used here.

You have to respect the skill to take all these patterns and make them harmonious. It's not just the individual circles, but they have elements between them, as well as diamond lozenges forming the background around them, and two different borders on the inside of the pattern. AND here you can see that the underside of the arch has its own filigree carving.

And just for the sense of scale, here is me, standing in front of this door.

This was early in the trip, when I was thinking that the use of color and pattern was so refreshing, so different from the sort of dark and cold Italianate house I had been living in. Part of the appeal of going to Morocco for me was to look at the decor to see if I could move away from the monochromatic style that I was seeing everywhere. 

(This is why there are so many pictures of tile patterns.)

But it was by this point that I saw the folly. Moroccan mosaics are amazing, but they work because the scale is so monumental. There is no way to physically fit this many different patterns into a human scaled home. You need to have doorways that are 20 feet tall, that you view from dozens of yards away, before you can get the overall aesthetic effect. 

Also--there are SEVEN doors, and even those are not identical! 

Nor is this style of mosaic work the only one. Before you reach the palace, you pass an old city gate, which has tiles set into stonework--an elegant and yet massive style that conveys defensive strength, and is entirely different again.

 

Up close, you can see that that individual tiles are themselves rough hewn, not precision machined, but chiseled using hammers. When you are able to get very close, it is too close, and you see the individual imperfections and not the glorious tapestry of the whole.