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The Moroccan city of Fez, founded in the ninth century CE, is one of the most precious urban jewels of Islamic civilization. For more than 40 years Titus Burckhardt worked to document and preserve the artistic and architectural heritage of Fez in particular and Morocco in general. These newly translated lectures, delivered while Burckhardt was living and working in Fez, explore how the historic city can be preserved without turning it from a living organism into a dead museum-city, and how it can be adapted and updated using the values that gave birth to the city and its way of life. Aided by photographs and sketches made during the course of his lifetime, Burckhardt conveys what it means for a place to be a living Islamic city.
About the Author(s)
Titus Burckhardt
Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was one of the leading perennialist writers of the twentieth century. His writings showed remarkable scope. Burckhardt wrote on pure metaphysics, on tradition and modern science, on sacred art, on history and political science, and on various other aspects of traditional civilizations. Burckhardt was also a translator (from Arabic into French), an editor and publisher, and a respected consultant on restoring traditional cities to their former beautiful states.In addition, numerous Titus Burckhardt essays have appeared in various World Wisdom anthologies. Our free online Library has many essays and excerpts from Burckhardt's writings.
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Jean-Louis Michon
Jean-Louis Michon was a traditionalist French scholar who specialized in Islam in North Africa, Islamic art, and Sufism. His works include Le Soufi marrocain Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba and L'Autobiographie (Fahrasa) du Soufi marrocain Ahmad Ibn 'Ajiba (1747-1809). He wrote numerous articles appearing in several languages, and translated the Holy Koran into French.Dr. Michon's contributions to World Wisdom books & DVDs include:
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Joseph A. Fitzgerald
Joseph Fitzgerald has authored or edited several books on diverse world religions and philosophy that have won more than ten awards, including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award. The subjects include Buddhism, Hinduism, the American Indians, Christianity, the ecological crisis and the Perennial Philosophy. Fitzgerald studied Comparative Religion at Indiana University, where he also earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. He is an adopted grandson of Thomas Yellowtail, one of the most honored American Indian spiritual leaders of the last century. For more than thirty years, Joseph has traveled extensively throughout the American Indian, Oriental and Islamic worlds. He has edited the following books for World Wisdom:
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Jane Fatima Casewit
Jane Fatima Casewit is a writer, translator, and educator who lives in Morocco. Her interests focus on comparative religion and traditionalist studies, particularly in the area of West African Islam and Sufism.She has published several articles on gender in the light of tradition, including "Islamic Cosmological Concepts of Femininity," which can be found in The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity, edited by Kenneth (Harry) Oldmeadow. Mrs. Casewit also translated the French classic The Life and Teachings of Tierno Bokar by Amadou Hampaté Bâ for the World Wisdom edition, A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar.
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Reviews
- A Living Islamic City: Fez and its Preservation is highly recommended reading for those interested in Middle Eastern history and architecture, and surveys the Moroccan city’s evolution and artistic heritage. Chapters explore how various forces of preservation and growth influenced its heritage and adaptations, with a wealth of photos and ketches made by Burckhardt during his lifetime capturing how the city evolved and was saved. From old town presentations, exoduses, and threats to decoration and adornment choices made in keeping with Islamic culture, art, and tradition, this survey goes far beyond documenting specific structures, contrasting different approaches and craft trades that influenced Fez’s architectural heritage over the centuries. The result is a uniquely powerful assessment that is a foundation acquisition for any architecture and arts holding strong in Islamic history and heritage.
Midwest Book Review
- This book is far from a blind or superficial call for a ‘return to the Middle Ages,’ but rather a call for a return to the sacred principles that underlie all sapiential traditions and arts, crafts, architecture and sacred lifeways to understand them in their integral nature. We are grateful that these important lectures have been made available as they make for a superb contribution to Burckhardt’s already published work on the city of Fez and Islamic art. Burckhardt concludes with a message conveying the transpersonal blessing crystalized within this sacred city, “let us not forget that there still exists in Fez what we would call a genius loci, or, more adequately, a barakah that will have the last word” (p. 14). We end this review with the well-known verse of the Islamic tradition: “unto God all things are returned” (3:109).
from a review by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos in Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics
