Fes el Bali (, ) is the oldest walled part of Fez, Morocco. Fes el Bali was founded as the capital of the Idrisid dynasty between 789 and 808 AD. UNESCO listed Fes el Bali, along with Fes Jdid, as a World Heritage Site in 1981 under the name Medina of Fez. The World Heritage Site includes Fes el Bali's urban fabric and walls as well as a buffer zone outside of the walls that is intended to preserve the visual integrity of the location. Fes el Bali is, along with Fes Jdid and the French-created Ville Nouvelle or “New Town”, one of the three main districts in Fez. History As the capital for his newly acquired empire, Idris ibn Abdallah chose to build a new town on the right bank of the Fez River in AD 789. Many of the first inhabitants were refugees fleeing from an uprising in Cordoba (modern-day Spain). However, in 809 his son, Idris II, decided to found a capital of his own on the opposite bank of the Fez River. Even though they were only separated by a relatively small river the cities developed separately and became two individual cities until they were unified in the 11th century by the Almoravids. There were many refugees who decided to settle in the new city this time too, however this time they fled from an uprising in Kairouan (in modern Tunisia). The University of Al-Karaouine (or al-Qarawiyyin) is recorded by traditional sources as having been founded by one of these refugees, Fatima al-Fihri, in 859. UNESCO and Guinness World Records consider it the oldest continuously operating university in the world. The Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque (or Mosque of the Andalusians), on the opposite shore of the river, is likewise traditionally believed to have been founded by her sister in the same year. Under the Almoravids, Fez lost its status as a capital, which was moved to the newly created Marrakesh. During Almohad rule (12th-13th centuries), Fez was a thriving merchant city, even though it was not a capital. It even became the largest city in the world during that time, with approximately 200,000 people living there. After defeating the Almohads in Morocco, the Marinids moved the capital from Marrakesh back to Fez. This marked the beginning of the greatest period of the history for Fes. When the Marinids moved the capital to Fez in 1276 they started building