Fès

City (pop., 2004: 946,815), northern Morocco. The oldest of Morocco's four imperial cities, it was founded on opposite banks of the Wadi Fès by Idrīs I about 789 and Idrīs II about 809. The two parts were united by the Almoravid dynasty in the 11th century to become a major Islamic city. Fès reached its zenith under the Marinid dynasty as a centre of learning and commerce in the mid-14th century and has kept its religious primacy through the ages. The site of the oldest mosque in northern Africa, it is also the seat of an Islamic university founded in 859. A centre for trade and traditional crafts, it was until the late 19th century the only place where the fez hat was made.

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Village in central Portugal, site of a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. From May to October 1917, three peasant children reported a vision of a woman who identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary. On October 13, a crowd of about 70,000 witnessed an amazing solar phenomenon just after the children had seen their vision. The first national pilgrimage to the site occurred in 1927. Construction of a basilica started in 1928; now flanked by retreat houses and hospitals, it faces a square where many miraculous cures have been reported.

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Sigrdrífa is valkyrie in Norse mythology. She appears in Sigrdrífumál as the mentor of Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr). In the Poetic Edda she is identified with Brynhildr. Some scholars have doubted that this identification is original, seeing the roles of Sigurd's mentor and lover as too distinct to belong to the same character.