Kairaouine Mosque and University, Fes (must see)

What's pronounced as Kare-a-ween is the mosque and university in one place, and one of Fes’s great cultural heavyweights—impressive, enormous, and slightly mysterious, especially for non-Muslims. One of its main entrances sits at the end of Talaa Kebira street, where a quick peek through the doorway offers a teaser of the courtyard beyond. It’s a good preview, but don’t be fooled—the scale of the place only really registers once you grasp just how far it stretches.

Muslims are free to enter for prayer and to move around the university spaces, unless classes are underway. And here’s one of those quietly human details that sticks with you: worshipers will often take the time to show fellow-Muslim visitors around, pointing out architectural details and explaining how the complex works. It’s not a guided tour—more like a generous, informal show-and-tell inside one of the most important religious spaces in the city.

The place traces its history back to 857, when the mosque was founded by Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy family, originally from Tunisia. Over the centuries, the building grew along with the city. Its most dramatic expansion came in the 12th century under the Almoravids, who enlarged the prayer halls and overall footprint to accommodate up to 22,000 worshipers. This wasn’t modest growth—it was a statement.

Next door sits the university, often described as the oldest in the world. Technically, it began life as a madrasa, closely linked to the mosque, and only became part of Morocco’s modern state university system in 1963. Still, UNESCO recognizes it as the world’s oldest continuously operating educational institution—centuries ahead of Europe’s famous universities.

Even with access restrictions for non-Muslims, a visit here is absolutely worth it. From the edge of the courtyard—with its washing area reserved for men—you can still take in the harmony between open space and covered halls, light and shadow, silence and movement. Step back into the Medina afterward, grab a bowl of bissara (which is a thick, creamy puree soup), and let it sink in: you’ve just brushed up against more than a millennium of uninterrupted learning...