Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen lies in the western Rif between Tetouan and Ouezzane, at the foot of the Kelaa and Meggou mountains, at an altitude of around 600 metres.¹ The limestone peaks, cliffs and gorges above the town belong to Talassemtane National Park.²

In 2024 the town had 46,168 inhabitants, compared with 42,786 in 2014.³ Chefchaouen province, with 412,713 inhabitants, is by contrast predominantly rural: it accounts for a quarter of the region's rural population, and with an average of 4.54 people its households are the largest in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.⁴

The town was founded in 1471 by Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami. It began as a small fortress, today's kasbah.⁵ Until 1561 his descendants, the Banu Rashid, ruled the town, which took in above all newcomers from Andalusia, Muslims and Jews alike, and later Moriscos too.⁶ In October 1920 Chefchaouen came under Spanish administration, which ended in 1956 with Morocco's independence.⁷

The centre of the medina is Outa Hammam square. On it stand the kasbah, the Great Mosque and a former caravanserai.⁸ The Great Mosque goes back to the town's founder and also served as a place of learning.⁹

Above the town begins Talassemtane National Park, established on 8 October 2004, with an area of 58,950 hectares.¹⁰ Morocco placed the area on its Tentative List for World Heritage as early as 1998. The grounds given are a Mediterranean forest ecosystem rich in endemic plants, including the Moroccan fir, and a landscape of limestone peaks, cliffs, gorges and caves.¹¹

In 2013 UNESCO added the Mediterranean diet to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage; the states involved are Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal. In the 2010 nomination Chefchaouen represented Morocco as one of four communities, alongside Cilento in Italy, Koroni in Greece and Soria in Spain.¹²

Since 2020 Chefchaouen has been a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. In 2010 the municipal council declared it an ecological town; since then it has focused on preserving its cultural heritage, on ecotourism and on the local economy.¹³