| Founded in the 9th century and home to the oldest university in the world, the city of Fez has had its golden age in the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was Morocco's capital. The buildings and monuments of the Medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, date from this period. The dyers' district of Fez has hardly changed since those days, and the same traditional coloring techniques have been used for centuries. Tanned hides and textiles are submerged in dye vats with ceramic surfaces, known as fullers, and are trodden down by the craftsmen. The coloring is derived from natural pigments: poppy, indigo, saffron, date nuts, and antimony are used to obtain red, blue, yellow, beige, and black, respectively. The dyed materials are used to make the world-famous carpets and leather objects that are the principal handmade Moroccan exports. Some of the processes used are harmful both to the environment and to the craftsmen themselves, who work without protective masks. In 2002, the local council relocated the workshops that caused pollution to an area outside of the city, equipped with treatment installations, while allowing the non-polluting workshops to remain inside the Medina. |
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