TETOUAN · LOCATIONS
Dar Sanaa
ARTISAN SCHOOL
Dar Sanaa
ARTISAN SCHOOL
Walk out of Bab el-Oqla on the east side of the Tétouan medina and the Neo-Mauresque building immediately opposite is Dar Sanaa, the most important crafts school in northern Morocco. Founded in 1928 under the Spanish Protectorate, the school still trains apprentices in the full Andalusian decorative repertoire that the medina across the road was built from: zellij tile cutting, carved plaster (gebs), inlaid wood (taracea), leather tooling, silk embroidery, and bookbinding. Apprenticeships run for years; visitors are welcome to walk in and watch.
The building itself is part of the visit. A Spanish-era Neo-Mauresque structure organised around two Andalusian patios, the school's galleries open onto workshops you can stand at the edge of: zellij masters cutting tile on low benches with hammer and chisel, carved-plaster panels drying against the walls, leather tooled in quiet side rooms, and silk embroidery worked on wooden frames. A small exhibition room at the entrance shows student showpieces from each discipline, which gives you a quick map of the school's seven craft tracks.
Visit during term time — roughly October through June — when the workshops are active. The school closes on Sundays and during late summer. Be respectful, ask before photographing individual students, and tip a guide modestly if one accompanies you. The school's small shop sometimes sells student and master pieces at modest prices with excellent quality; for larger commissions, the teachers run their own workshops elsewhere in the medina. Forty-five to sixty minutes is a comfortable visit, ideally combined with the Ethnographic Museum across the road and a walk into the medina through Bab el-Oqla.