ccfc entrances & doors: the blue doors of chefchaouen

A couple of years ago I spent three remarkable weeks in Morocco. There are endless things to love about Morocco. I loved the incredibly diverse natural landscape that stretches from the Sahara desert in the south, across the High Atlas Mountains, to the seaside cities of M’Diq and Tangier in the North – with hundreds of little micro-climates and towns that fall in between.

Everything I saw seemed worthy of a photo (or 100) and I took, quite literally, thousands of them. Of those, hundreds of my shots were of doors. I love Morocco’s doors. Morocco has fantastic doors. Morocco really, deeply gets doors. Morocco has never heard of contractor-grade doors. This post would be a mile long if I tried to share the stunning variety of Moroccan doors I shot, so I chose to focus on the blue doors of Chefchaouen.

Chefchaouen is a city in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco. It’s known for the gorgeous, many-hued blue wash that covers everything from trash bins to mosques. The custom dates back to the 15th century, when Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish Inquisition settled in Chefchaouen. They brought with them a tradition of painting things blue to mirror the sky and remind them of God. That tradition has continued into the 21st century where many things, including the doors, are still painted blue.

blue door and tile stairs

Big doors, tiny doors, wood and metal doors, studded doors, doors falling apart, doors to narrow, dark stairways. A painting of a door, next to a door. Doors.

chefchaouen door

chefchaouen door

chefchaouen door

chefchaouen door

chefchaouen door

chefchaouen door

 

CCFC Entrances & Doors