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Artists who fell for Morocco

Leo Africanus (al-Hasan al-Wazzan)

Raised and educated in Fez, he became the Renaissance's great describer of Africa.

  • From: al-Andalus (Granada, today Spain)
  • Their art: writer
  • In Morocco: childhood and youth in Fez
  • Made here or about here: Description of Africa (Cosmographia de Affrica), 1526
  • What you can still see: University of al-Qarawiyyin, Fez (still standing)

Where in Morocco

  • Fez (Qarawiyyin, medina): his family moved to Fez soon after his birth; he studied at al-Qarawiyyin
Sources, checked 2026-11-15
  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Africanus

Next

Lisan al-Din ibn al-KhatibThe Nasrid vizier-poet whose verses line the Alhambra ended his life in Fez.MaimonidesThe great Jewish philosopher spent part of his youth in Fez.Ibn ArabiThe great Sufi master lived for a time in Fez before leaving al-Andalus for good.Ibn KhaldunThe father of sociology served the Marinid sultans in Fez as a young man.Henri ProstHe drew the plans of Morocco's colonial new towns beside the old medinas.Pierre LotiHis account of an embassy's ride to Fez fixed Morocco in French imaginations.Every artist, on the mapFrom five continents

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