Musée Al Batha des Arts Islamiques – Fès

The Musée Al Batha des Arts Islamiques, officially known as the Al Batha Museum of Islamic Arts, is one of Morocco’s most important cultural institutions and a crown jewel of the imperial city of Fès. Located at the western edge of Fes el-Bali near the iconic Bab Bou Jeloud gate, the museum is housed in the Dar Batha, a former summer palace commissioned by Sultan Hassan I in the late 19th century and completed under his successor Sultan Abdelaziz. The palace served various royal and administrative functions during the French Protectorate before being converted into a museum in 1915, making it one of the oldest museums in Morocco. Following a major renovation campaign that began in 2019 at a cost of approximately 15.6 million dirhams, the museum reopened to the public on 26 February 2025 under its new official name. Its collection now comprises over 6,500 historical artifacts and artworks sourced primarily from mosques, madrasas, and historic buildings across the Fès medina. Highlights include the world-renowned collection of blue ceramics from Fès, an extraordinary treasury of 14th-century astrolabes, carved cedar woodwork, antique carpets from the Middle and High Atlas, Amazigh jewelry, embroideries worked in gold thread, illuminated Qurans, and the celebrated minbar of the Bou Inania Madrasa. The palace’s Andalusian gardens, designed by landscape architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier in 1915 and planted with orange trees, jacarandas, and palms, provide a serene setting for reflection after the museum tour.