Fes Jdid
Another reason for building the new city was that the Almohad kasbahs, which were strictly military compounds, lacked the space required to establish a royal court and to house the Marinid troops.
Building a new palace-city was a frequent preoccupation of North African and Andalusi dynasties wishing to demonstrate their power, and so the foundation of the new city also symbolized the new era of Marinid rule.
[6][4] The Marinid city was protected on all sides by two lines of walls, which on the east and west ran together but to the north and south were separated from each by intervening gardens or districts.
[2][6] The site of the garden is now mostly occupied by the large Bab Segma Cemetery (probably dating from the time of Moulay Rashid), inside of which the outline of some of the original basins can still be discerned.
[14] Following this, the area around the mosque was turned into a horm (sanctuary) where non-Muslims were not allowed to enter, resulting in the expulsion of the Jewish inhabitants from the city's commercial center.
[2]: 294 This addition extended the Dar al-Makhzen grounds up to the edge of the Lalla ez-Zhar Mosque which had previously stood in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, cutting off one of the local streets.
[2] Moulay Rashid also built the vast Kasbah Cherarda north of Fes el-Jdid in order to house his tribal troops.
[2][4] The housing of troops here also liberated new space in Fes el-Jdid itself, including the northwestern area which became the new Moulay Abdallah neighbourhood from the early 18th century onwards.
From 1790 to 1792 Sultan Moulay Yazid, largely seen as a cruel leader,[4] forced the entire Jewish community to move from the Mellah to the outlying Kasbah Cherarda on the other side of Fes el-Jdid.
Moreover, Moulay Yazid permanently reduced the size of the Mellah district by demolishing the old city walls around it and rebuilding them along a much shorter perimeter we see today.
[6] The Oued Fes, which flowed just outside the northern walls of the city, was diverted northward in the course of these 19th-century expansions, but continues to pass under the Old Mechouar before reemerging on its east side.
One immediate consequence was the 1912 riots in Fes, a popular uprising which included deadly attacks targeting Europeans as well as native Jewish inhabitants in the Mellah, followed by an even deadlier repression.
[17] In the Bab al-Amer area, the French administration judged the old gate too narrow and inconvenient for traffic and demolished a nearby aqueduct and some of the surrounding wall in order to improve access.
[6] In 1924, the French went further and demolished a series of modest shops and stables on the northern edge of the Jewish Mellah in order to build a wide road for vehicles (Rue Boukhessissat or Bou Khsisat; later also Rue des Mérinides) between the Mellah and the southern wall of the Royal Palace, which today passes in front of Bab Semmarine and continues towards Fes el-Bali.
[6][18] The former shops were replaced with more ostentatious boutiques built in the architectural style of the Jewish houses of the Mellah, with many open balconies and outward ornamentation.
[6] By contrast, however, the Mellah also became steadily depopulated of its Jewish inhabitants, who either moved to the Ville Nouvelle, to Casablanca, or emigrated to countries like France, Canada, and Israel.
[2] Today, the layout of Fes el-Jdid appears complicated due to the multiple expansions and modifications of its districts and of the Royal Palace (Dar al-Makhzen) over the centuries.
[6] This area, along with the rest of the former Jewish quarter, is also known for its distinctive house architecture, with open balconies and other features not usually found in the traditional Muslim medina.
[18][2] The Mellah in turn has its own main street, a gate known as Bab el-Mellah, and a large Jewish Cemetery (established in 1883) at its southwestern corner.
[10][20][4] Rue des Mérinides, the main street for road vehicles, passes in front of Bab Semmarine, a monumental gate which constitutes the southern entrance to Fes el-Jdid proper.
[2][13] From this gate, a main street known as the Grande Rue de Fès el-Jdid, lined with shops and markets, runs north to northwest until it reaches the Old Mechouar, the fortified square fronting the historic entrance to the Dar al-Makhzen.
[4][7] The eastern edge of these neighbourhoods is lined by the former walls of Fes el-Jdid, of which major sections have survived, in addition to several Saadian-era bastions.
On the east side of the square are entrances from the Grande Rue and another separate opening for the road leading to Place Bou Jeloud and Fes el-Bali.
[4] West of this district there are the more recent extensions of the Royal Palace: a large square or open space known as Bab Bou Jat Mechouar, and beyond this vast walled gardens of the Agdal (off-limits to the public).
