July 6, 2015
Fez is recognized as one of the last bastions of the medieval civilizations. With its palaces, mosques and madrassas, the city seems to be untouched by the ever-advancing modern world. To this day, its citizens still do trades just as a thousand years ago. Productions and processing of materials are still practiced like in the olden days.
Found in the Old City, Chouaras Tanneries, or the Tanners’ Quarter, is one such example of a trade being practiced just as it was previously. The tannery is composed of numerous stone vats filled with various dyes and chemicals. These tanneries process the hides of cows, goats, sheep and camels without the aid of machines. The workers do everything by hand and then stack the processed hides to be delivered to the leather workers’ shops.
