Unless you have a special invitation to the palace grounds, you’ll have to settle for admiring its seven imposing front gates, surrounded by fine tilework and carved cedar wood. Built in the 1960s, they’re masterpieces of modern craft work.

The lemon trees planted in front are a handy prop for tour guides, who often demonstrate the juice’s astringent cleaning properties on the ormulu (gilt bronze) doors.

The royal palace was built in the thirteenth century under the reign of Mérinides Dynasty in the heart of Fes El Jadid, district adjacent to the Old City. The royal palace, Dar Al Makhzen, spans an incredible field of 80 ha, including a madrasa founded in 1320, a mosque, a parade and huge gardens. Closed to visitors, the palace opens to the place of Alawites, vast esplanade appointed in 1968, from which we can nevertheless admire the majestic carved in copper, major work done by a craftsman in 1960 Fassi.