The Imperial City

The Imperial City

More than any other Moroccan town, Meknes is associated with a single figure, the Sultan Moulay Ismail, in whose 55-years reign (1672-1727) the city was built up from a provincial centre to a spectacular capital with twenty gates, over fifty palace and some fifteen miles of exterior walls. The principal remains of Ismail's creation - the imperial city (la Ville Imperiale )of palaces and gardens, barracks, granaries and stables- sprawl below the Medina, amid a confusingly maniac array of welled enclosures. If you intend to take in everything, it's a long morning's walk. Starting out from the Ville Nouvelle, make your way down to the main street at the southern edge of the Medina (Rue Rouamzine/Rue Dar Smen), and along to Place El Hedim and its immense gateway, Bab Mansour. There are usually guides hanging around here if you want to use one; you don't need to, but if you can find some-one entertaining, he'll probably elaborate on the story of the walls with some superbly convoluted local legend.