Lively and hospitable, Fes does not give up its secrets easily.  From the surrounding hilltops where the Merinid tombs seem to slumber, a shimmering sea of green copper roofs rises above the sun-splashed city walls.   Hidden behind this anonymity is a heritage that is only sometimes revealed to travellers.  Because it took generations of architects to build it, artisans devoted their lives to embellish it, poets dedicated their most beautiful verses to it, and because it has always remained itself, even when conquered, Fes has always been able to rise above the challenges of the times and to breath life into the ashes of the sacred fire to become again a place of great spirituality.

Fes was for many centuries the political and intellectual capital of Morocco, and became a centre of encounter and exchange.   It is said that Sylvestre II (Gerbert d'Aurillac) who was Pope from 999 to 1003, stayed here in his youth to study, and later introduced Arabic numerals into Europe.  Ma ïmonides, the Jewish physician and philosopher, also lived here for some years during which he taught at the Qaraouine University.  The works of this philosopher are a wonderful illustration of the symbiosis that existed in Andalusia between Jewish and Islamic cultures, and a similar echo is found in Fes.

During the centuries of cultural expansion, we find other great figures who lived in Fes, particularly the mystic and metaphysician Ibn Arabi (d. 1377), the sociologist Ibn Khaldoun (d. 1382) and the mathematician Ibn Al Banna (d. 1321).   The Qaraouine University is graced with a rich library containing many manuscripts on religion, philosophy, cosmology and natural sciences.  Teachers at the University have always had access to considerable private libraries, either through family tradition or personal acquisition.  Even today, there is a manuscript market on Sunday mornings in a little street next to the University, where rare and precious specimens can still be found.

The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and the Rencontres de Fes Colloquium, founded respectively in 1994 and 2001, are dedicated to the traditions of knowledge, art and spirituality of the city.

Since their creation, these events have enjoyed a growing success.  The Fes Festival was designated in 2001 by the United Nations as one of the major events contributing in remarkable fashion to the dialogue between civilisations.

Parallel to the Festival an international network of support and media interest has developed.  Every two years in the United States, Spirit of Fes Inc organises a programme of Festival concerts and Colloquium events across 20 American cities.   Another tour is due in October and November 2006 in several cities in the US, including a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Through events such as these, the Spirit of Fes network radiates out from Fes to other parts of the world.  Many other cities have requested to become relay-stations to spread further the message of the Festival and the Colloquium:  that of interfaith dialogue through music, the creation of a culture of peace encouraged by globalisation, and respectful of ethical and spiritual values.