Bab lkhokha, City gate in Medina of Fez, Morocco.
Bab lkhokha is a stone-built gate in the southern wall of Fez Medina, featuring traditional Moroccan design with geometric carved patterns and a fortified entrance structure. It opens onto a network of narrow lanes leading to workshops, storage areas, and market zones where the medina's daily life unfolds.
The gate was built as part of the medieval city fortifications when the Marinid dynasty expanded the medina between the 13th and 15th centuries. This era transformed Fez into a major trading hub of North Africa.
The gate's name reflects its historical role as an entry point to craft quarters, where artisans still produce goods using methods passed down for generations. You can observe leather tanners, potters, and weavers working in the narrow lanes beyond the gate, continuing their daily labor much as their ancestors did.
The gate is easily reached on foot and provides direct access to a confusing maze of paths, so it helps to accept getting turned around or to use a local guide. The terrain is hilly and the lanes are very tight, so wear comfortable shoes and be ready for slow movement.
The gate leads to one of the world's largest car-free urban zones, where thousands of winding lanes feel like a medieval labyrinth. Many visitors do not realize they are moving through one of the few remaining traditional trade networks still operating, where goods circulate between workshops and markets much as they did centuries ago.
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