A Living Islamic City: Fez and Its Preservation

The Moroccan city of Fez, founded in the ninth century CE, is one of the most precious urban jewels of Islamic civilization. For more than 40 years Titus Burckhardt worked to document and preserve the artistic and architectural heritage of Fez in particular and Morocco in general. These newly translated lectures, delivered while Burckhardt was living and working in Fez, explore how the historic city can be preserved without turning it from a living organism into a dead museum-city, and how it can be adapted and updated using the values that gave birth to the city and its way of life. Aided by photographs and sketches made during the course of his lifetime, Burckhardt conveys what it means to be a living Islamic city. Read more