Every city in Morocco has a different characteristic color. The royal city of Marrakesh is ocher (red).

Morocco used to be inhabited by Berber peoples who had been conquered by the Arabs in the VII century. The local population accepted Islam and from that moment on they were called Moors, that is, Islamized inhabitants of North Africa. It was the Moors who conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula and founded the caliphate of Cordoba, as well as Granada a bit later. They were the bearers of statehood and culture, which united a large area of ​​contemporary Spain, Morocco and Algeria during the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties in the XII and XIII centuries. The centre of the state and culture was Marrakesh, which had been founded back in 1060. The term Morocco is not of Arabic origin, but it came from the Portuguese pronunciation for Marrakesh – “Marrocos”. In the Berber language Marrakesh means “Land of the Gods” and is pronounced “Mrkesh” today.

The city centre is called Medina and ever since the Middle Ages  it has been surrounded by city walls which have been preserved to this day. Medina can be entered through 19 city gates, the most famous of which is Bab Agnaou from the XII century. Bab means gate in Arabic, while Agnou stands for “ram without horns”. It is assumed that the gate got this name because it lost its two towers early on.

In the place where the tower used to be storks build their nests today. In Moroccan culture and tradition, storks are a sign of good luck, which is why they are allowed to nest on roofs, walls, and even minarets. Berbers consider storks to be transformed people.

Koutoubia Mosque

The first thing that catches the eye upon entering Medina is the Koutoubia Mosque minaret, which is 70m high. The mosque was founded by Sultan Abdul al-Mumin, the founder of the Almohad dynasty, which replaced the Almoravid dynasty at the time. The mosque was not finished during his lifetime, but was completed by his grandson Yakub al-Mansur. The Koutoubia minaret is a masterpiece of not only Moorish, but also Islamic architecture. It was later used as a model for the Hassan Tower in Rabat and the Giralda in Seville. The mosque can accommodate 20,000 worshipers. Koutoubia means the Bookstore Mosque because it was created on a marketplace which was specialized in selling books. What’s obvious at first sight is that, unlike the minarets in Turkey and the Balkans, which are thinner and cylindrical in shape, the minarets in Morocco have a massive square shape, which looks like a tower. There is a smaller tower at the top (like a tower on a tower), ending with a lantern or a pike consisting of 4 golden balls. According to the legend, the fourth ball was made by a sultana from her gold jewelry, because she wanted to redeem herself for violating the Ramadan fast. The windows on the minaret are decorated with semicircular arcades with reliefs and inscriptions. The minaret was built in a ratio of 1: 5, which is characteristic of the Almohad period architecture. This proportion means that the height of the minaret is 5 times its width. A minaret is generally the tallest building in Islamic architecture and its purpose is to serve as a standing place for the muezzin to invite the faithful for prayer. Believers are obliged to pray five times a day because Muhammad prayed as many times in Jerusalem before he ascended to heaven. It is unknown exactly where the Arabs got their inspiration for building the minaret. It is assumed that the Tower of Babel served them as a model, while others believe that it was the famous lighthouse in Alexandria, since the lighthouse still existed when they occupied Egypt.        

Entry to the mosque is prohibited, and therefore only the remains of the older mosque from the Almoravid period can be seen from the outside. The older mosque was destroyed due to the fact that the qibla was wrongly oriented. Qibla is the direction in which Mecca is located and towards which the congregation should pray, while Mihrab is a niche in the wall  of a mosque which determines the direction.

In addition to mosques, smaller buildings, the so-called domes or domed pavillions (Arabic: Qubba ) were built. Water was conducted in these buildings and they had toilets, showers and fountains with drinking water. A qubba is usually covered with a dome.

Ben Youssef Mosque Mosque

The second most important mosque in Marrakesh is the Ben Youssef Mosque. It is older than the Koutoubia Mosque and was built by Amir Ali Ibn Yusuf of the Almoravid dynasty in the XII century. He was the son of Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the founder of this famous royal dynasty. However, what we see here is a reconstruction from the XIX century.

Ben Yusuf Madrasa

Much more significant than the mosque itself is the Ben Yusuf Madrasa, which was unfortunately closed due to reconstruction. They were both named after Amir Ali ibn Yusuf of the Almoravid dynasty, although the madrasa was built later, in the XIV century, only to get its present appearance in the XVI century, when Marrakesh was ruled by the Saadi dynasty. A madrasa is a religious school where Muslim students studied the Koran. This one could accommodate 900 students and was in use until 1960.

Ben Youssef Madrasa is a symmetrically arranged building centred around a courtyard with a pool. The central courtyard primarily served for reading the Quran.

The courtyard was surrounded by 13 lanterns. A lantern is an open space through which light enters, serving to illuminate the students’ rooms and corridors. Smaller courtyards were located at the base of the lanterns.

The student rooms were located around the lanterns. The total was 134 rooms, of which 54 rooms were on the first floor and 80 rooms on the upper floor.

The students resided and were taught within the confines of the rooms. Islamic jurisprudence and law were taught to the students, with a view to developing them into qualified alims. The madrasa served as an educational facility for religious purposes till 1960 when it was shut down for the next twenty years and was then transformed into a museum.

On the only side of the madrasa without students’ rooms was a prayer hall.

The most significant part of the prayer hall is the Mihrab or niche in the wall, which shows believers the Qibla, the direction they should face in prayer, as Mecca is located in that direction. The niche wall is decorated with palm and pineapple leaf ornaments. The arch leading into the Mihrab is supported by pairs of double columns.

The central part of the prayer hall contains a stone pool, used for ritual washing before prayer. In mosques, the function of the pool was served by structures called “qubbe,” which housed fountains for washing. This stone pool originates from the Caliphate of Cordoba, and it arrived in Marrakech after Christian conquerors captured and destroyed Cordoba.

The Marrakesh Museum is located next to the madrasa.

Next to the Ben Yusuf Mosque, there is a dome (qubba), which originally belonged to the old mosque destroyed by the Almohads. Luckily, this qubba has been preserved and today it is a rare example of Almoravid architecture from 1106. It is also considered to be the oldest preserved building in Marrakesh.

Jemaa el-Fnaa is the largest square in Marrakesh and in the whole of Morocco and one of the busiest squares in the world. Jemaa el-Fnaa means “Thieves’ Square” because thieves and cheaters used to be punished here. This is where they would be beheaded, their hands cut off and their tongues burned. Jugglers, acrobats, sword and flame eaters, prophetesses and musicians can all be seen in the square. Today, Jemaa el-Fnaa is under the protection of UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site.

Even Hitchcock placed scenes from his movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in this square. Little has changed on Jemaa el-Fnaa since 1956 when this film was made. You can still see a bunch of small traders who bring goods to the shops and stalls in the square on donkeys.

This photo of Jemaa el-Fnaa dates back from 1920. Very few places in the world left so untouched by modernization and globalization.

Other filming locations of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” in Marrakech are well preserved. Here we can see one of the ancient gate Bab Doukkala.

In Hitchcock’s movie Bab Doukkala was used as a scene in which bus with main protagonist, family McKenna, was entering in Medina.

Most famous hotel in Marrakech, Mamounia, also appear in the movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.

Family McKenna, who are played by famous actors James Stewart and Doris Day, are situated in the hotel Mamounia during their stay in Marrakech.

Today hotel Mamounia is regarded as one of the best hotels in the world. It was opened in 1929, as a combination of Moroccan architecture with the Art Deco. Hotel Mamounia was built in the garden of a sultan from 18th century.

One of the scenes from the movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, where family McKenna is having a dinner took place in the restaurant Dar Essalam.

Restaurant Dar Essalam, built few years before shooting of Hitchcock’s, still exists and works.

Souks

From the Jemaa el-Fnaa square, one can reach the souks – a labyrinth of narrow and covered alleys that consist of a large number of different shops. Each souk has its own name and many specialize in certain types of goods: carpets, lamps, footwear, pottery, textiles, leather, wooden objects, etc. The most famous souk is Souk de Teintures or the Souk of colors. It specializes in selling yarn in different colors. The yarn is used for making carpets. The vast majority of goods sold by souks are made on the spot in special small craft workshops. Only a small percentage of goods are made industrially outside Medina. Yarn is dyed in different colors here. After it having been dyed, the yarn is hung on a rope between the buildings in order to dry.

This particular souk is where goldsmith shops are located.

As soon as it gets dark, many of these shops close.

In Hitchcock’s movie scene of chasing of the secrete agent took place in the souks.

Secrete agent is stabbed in front of the hammam Moussaine.

Stabbed agent approach to the family McKenna….

…..who where standing on Jemaa el-Fnaa square.

Fountains in Marrakesh

There are several medieval fountains in Medina, the most famous of which is the Chrob ou Chouf Fountain. It was built in the XVI century, when Marrakesh was ruled by sultans from the Saadi dynasty. Regular water supply was essential for the inhabitants of Marrakesh, because it is an inland city of Morocco, located in an area that is quite dry and lacking in water. Due to that, a system of underground canals was built, through which water from the nearby Atlas Mountains was conducted to the city and the city fountains.

The most interesting part of this fountain is its cedar wood canopy. The canopy is carved with geometric ornaments -zellige and there is an inscription in Arabic  engraved in one part.

Another well-known medieval fountain, which also has a carved wooden canopy, is the Mouassine Fountain, named after the mosque of the same name built in the XVI century during the Saadi dynasty.

Medina

Medina was also the burial place of the 7 saints of Morocco. In the XI and XII centuries, Morocco was a meeting place for various preachers of Islam, who travelled through the deserts and spread their religious teachings from city to city. They propagated renunciation of material things and devotion only to faith and God. These wandering preachers are dressed in rough clothes – Sufis, which is why they are called Sufis. From them arose a large number of sects, who in various ways wanted to get closer to God. These Sufis were deeply revered in Morocco and their tombs have been preserved to this day. In the XVII century, their relics were gathered by Mula Ismail and buried in 7 different locations.

The tombs of saints are called Zawiyas or Zaouias, and the set of these seven tombs is called the Regraga. Each Zaouia is a complex of different objects. Next to the tomb of a Saint there is a mosque, a hammam, a hospital for the blind and a small market. Zaouias are places where pilgrims come from all around the country.

This is the entrance to the tomb of Sidi (Saint) Abdelaziz Al- Tebbaa.

Other medieval buildings worth mentioning are caravanserais. They were used to accommodate travellers and merchants  who came in caravans from other parts of the country with their goods.

Kasbah

South of Medina there is a quarter called Kasbah. It was named after the kasbah, a medieval fortress (citadel), which once stood in this area. The oldest building in this area is the Kasbah Mosque, built by Sultan Jakub al-Mansur from the Almohad dynasty in the XII century.

The tomb of the Saadian sultans, one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Marrakesh, leans against the south wall of the Kasbah Mosque. This tomb was built by sultans from the Saadi dynasty in the XVI century to be the burial place of sultans and members of their families.

The tomb complex consists of several rooms. The main one is the Lalla Masuda and it is the oldest building in the whole complex.

It was built by Sultan Mullah Abdullah al-Ghalib and it served as the mausoleum of his father, Sultan Mohammed al-Shaykh, the founder of the Saadi dynasty. Later, the most important sultan from the Saadi dynasty, Ahmed al-Mansur, expanded this room to bury his mother Lalla Masuda, ​​who was the concubine of his father, Sultan Mohammed al-Shaykh. This room was named after her. The tomb of Mohammed al-Shaykh can be seen here.

Sultan Ahmed al-Mansur built several rooms in the western part of the complex. The first one is the Mihrab room, which was used for prayers. This room has four Corinthian marble columns. Corinthian columns were originally used by the Romans in the ancient period. The floor is decorated with geometric ornaments, which are called zellige.

To the left of the room there is a door with a semicircular arch in the shape of a horseshoe, which is characteristic of Islamic architecture. This door leads to a niche called the mihrab, which determines the qibla or the direction in which Mecca is located. Believers have to be turned in this direction during prayer.

To the right there is another door with a distinctive muqarnas, a type of decoration located above the door, which symbolizes the firmament.

This door leeds to the Room of 12 columns  which is the burial place of sultan Ahmed el-Mansur and his heirs. There are 12 marble Corinthian pillars in the room, all connected by arches decorated with muqarnases, cobweblike ornaments, built of stucco plaster.

Besides in stucco materials, muqarnas can also be built of wood. This kind of architecture can also be seen in Alhambra in the south of Spain, since in the Middle Ages Spain and Morocco were a unique cultural and historical area. It is in these territories that the oldest examples of Islamic art and architecture have been preserved. This was because other territories of the Arab world, especially the Middle East and Baghdad, were destroyed during the Mongol invasions in the XIII century, while Spain and Morocco were spared from that destruction. The history of the Arab conquest of Morocco is interesting. After Muhammad’s death, his successors formed a state – the Caliphate, based in Damascus, and in less than 100 years they managed to occupy the territory from India to Spain, which was a much larger territory than the one conquered by Alexander the Great or held by the Roman Empire. Muhammad’s successors first occupied Egypt and then Tunisia in 670. The centre of their province of Ifriqiya was the city of Kairouan in Tunisia. The governors of Kairouan imposed power on the local Berber population in Morocco in 683. The Berbers mostly converted to Islam, but retained all previous rights and privileges. Ever since then, the locally Islamized population of Morocco and other parts of North Africa has been called the Moors. It was in 711 that the Moors invaded most of Spain, which became part of the caliphate. However, in the middle of the VIII century, there was a dynastic coup in Damascus. The new rulers of the Abbasid dynasty moved the centre of the caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad, after which the new caliphate was named. A member of the old dynasty fled the court and went to Cordoba, where he declared an independent state – the Caliphate of Cordoba. The Arab state was beginning to weaken. One country after another started declaring their independence. Morocco did so in 786, after which both Tunisia and Egypt did the same. It is interesting however, that Morocco did not fall under foreign rule until the French colonization. They even managed to defend themselves from the Ottomans. Ever since then, the ruling dynasties have changed in Morocco, the most famous of which being the Almoravids, Almohads, Saadis and Alaouites, to whom the present-day Moroccan king belongs.

Badi Palace

The construction of El Badi Palace was initiated by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur a few years after he came to power, and it continued throughout his reign. The Sultan received guests in this palace, and its monumental nature was intended to display his personal greatness and power to them. Besides guests, the palace was often visited by musicians, writers, and poets. After Sultan al-Mansur’s death, the palace was neglected, leading to its eventual ruin. The building materials from El Badi Palace were taken and used to construct a palace in Meknes. To survive, every building must be maintained and restored; otherwise, it will deteriorate over time. The central part of the palace consists of a courtyard surrounded by walls and rooms on all four sides. In its appearance and layout, El Badi Palace drew inspiration from the Alhambra Palace in Granada.

The palace contains a large number of underground passages and rooms, which were used for housing and movement of servants and slaves.

A special section of the palace consisted of guest rooms, where guests and foreign ambassadors were accommodated.

Each guest room had a courtyard decorated with zellij tiles and a fountain.

From the guest room, one enters the central courtyard, which consists of four gardens and one central pool. When entering the courtyard from the guest room, the guest was meant to be impressed by the courtyard.

The central pool was located in the middle of the palace. In the centre of the pool is a square island, connected to the rest of the palace by a bridge.

Near the pool, there are specially made holes where water was collected and then distributed to the pools.

From the Kasbah quarter, from the Ferblantier square…

….across one of the oldest souks…

Mellah

…you can arrive to a Jewish quarter called Mellah. Before the Second World War, around 16,000 Jews had lived here. Like any Jewish ghetto, it was surrounded by walls on all sides and could only be entered and exited through two gates. Jews settled here from Spain and Portugal after persecution in the XV and XVI centuries.

The Lazama Synagoge is preserved in the Jewish quarter today…

….turned into a museum.

The Synagogue walls are decorated with mosaics shaped as the Star of David.

Outside the Jewish quarter there is a peculiar Jewish cemetery founded in the XVI century.

The Bahia Palace

One of the most impressive buildings in Marrakesh is The Bahia Palace. It was built by two generations of grand viziers in the XIX century, Si Musa and his son, the cruel Bu Ahmed, who was the tutor of the minor Sultan Abdul Aziz. Grand vizier Bu Ahmed had 4 wives, and each had one room of identical size, which meant that they had equal status. In addition to regular wives, the vizier also had 24 concubines, who were accommodated in 12 rooms (two concubines in each room). Here you can see the main courtyard surrounded by buildings in which wives and concubines were housed. The floor of the courtyard is lined with geometric mosaics in the middle of which three fountains have been built. Sultan Abdul Aziz was jealous of his vizier, so after the vizier’s death he took over the palace and expelled all wives and concubines from it.

The palace consists of a large number of small courtyards with fountains.

Fountains represent an essential part of every palace and home.

The courtyard floors are covered with geometrical zellige mosaics, which only existed in North Africa.

Every palace has at least one garden. Gardens play a rather important role in Islamic culture because they are a representation of heaven on Earth.

The decoration of the palace shows a tendency to imitate the neo-Islamic and neo-Moorish style.

The most impressive ceilings are those…

…which are usually decorated with carved wood.

Wooden ceilings are also painted.

The palace walls ornaments are crafted to perfection.

An arabesque is a type of decoration based on shapes from nature, such as stems, leaves and flowers which have taken on a distinctly geometric shape. They are symmetrically repeated in thousands of examples.

Riads are the traditional homes of wealthy merchants and nobles. A riad was made with the intention of appearing modest to the outside world.

Dar el-Bacha riad

However, whoever enters a riad is supposed to be impressed by its beauty. This is the Dar el-Bacha riad which is rather new, built in 1910.

The central part of the riad is a courtyard with a fountain in the middle. These courtyards often have a garden with orange trees and other fruits. A multi- story building surrounds the courtyard on all sides.

The ceilings are carved in wood, while the walls are decorated with mosaics.

Islam prohibits icons and condemns sculpture. This is why Islamic painting mostly features ornaments, floral paysages and depictions of animals, which have all been perfected.

The Secret Garden

One of the most wonderous places in Marrakesh is The Secret Garden, built in the XIX century. The central part of the complex is a courtyard with a large garden which is, in this case, supposed to depict paradise. In the Koran Paradise is depicted as a garden with a series of rooms under which rivers flow. In the centre of the garden there is a fountain…

…which is covered in this case.

The building- riad is surrounding the courtyard on all 4 sides.

There are several pools in the complex, all of which collect water and conduct it to the fountain in a traditional way.

The secret garden is planted with unusual tropical trees from all over the world. One of the most unusual inhabitants of this garden is the Silk Floss Tree (Ceiba speciosa), which originates from South America.

The trunk of this tree has an unusual shape. It swells in the middle from water storage, and like a cactus, the trunk has thorns that protect it from the external environment. The trunk has an unusual green color.

The Silver Wattle is a tree that grows in Australia. It belongs to the legume family, as its fruit is pod-shaped.

An unusual bottle-shaped tree grows only in the Australian state of Queensland. The bottle shape of the trunk is formed due to water storage. Aborigines used to eat the roots of young trees.

Euphorbia tirucalli is a tree native to Africa and has several names: pencil tree, milk bush, fire stick, and more.

This plant is also called the pencil tree due to the needle-like shape of its leaves. The leaves contain a milky sap that can cause severe redness upon contact with the skin, and if it gets into the eyes, it can cause temporary blindness. Since it is a popular tree in decoration, it is advised to wear gloves and protective glasses when handling it.

The Candelabra tree, with its branches, resembles a luxurious candlestick. Although it looks much like a cactus, it belongs to the milkweed family. Like the pencil tree, it contains a milky sap that is poisonous to humans. It grows only in South Africa. Since it has no leaves, photosynthesis occurs through the green stems.

Although it is called the Madagascar palm, this tree is not a palm at all. It looks like a palm because its leaves grow only at the top of the trunk.

The trunk is covered with sharp thorns.

Kleinia neriifolia is an endemic species that naturally grows only in the Canary Islands.

Gueliz

Morocco is imbued with unbelievable contrasts where in some places modern quarters are erected…

While on the other hand certain streets in Medina are almost crumbling.

There is a great percentage of poor people who can’t even afford a motorbike, but have to transport their goods by donkeys. What is more, sometimes you can see merchants who don’t even have donkeys, but transport their goods by pulling a cart. As usual, where there are the poor, there is also an usual form of government. Pictures of the current king are all over the billboards, in restaurants, exchange offices, on taxis, and even on banknotes in all denominations of 20, 50, 100 and 200 dirhams. It is obvious that the king is popular and extremely loved here.

The most famous quarter is Gueliz, built back in the time of the French colonial administration. This quarter is also called Ville Nouvelle which means The New City.

The tradition of building gardens and parks continued in the New City as well.

Majorelle Garden

Among many gardens in the new part of Marrakesh, the most famous one is the Majorelle Garden. It was originally founded by the French painter Jacques Majorelle in 1924.

In the 1930s he built a house in the Art Deco style. Its walls are   painted blue.

This unusual blue tone got its name after him- the Majorelle Blue. It is assumed that he drew his inspiration for this color among the Berber tribes, whose national costume is in this color. The Berbers also have a tradition of painting their houses blue.

Majorelle stayed in this house until his death in 1962, when the garden started to collapse. It was bought by the famous fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1980. He loved coming to Marrakesh together with his partner Pierre Berge. After the death of Yves Saint Laurent, his body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in the Majorelle garden.

The Yves Saint Laurent Museum is located right next to the Majorelle garden…

…with its rich collection of clothes. Saint Laurent was often inspired by the national costumes of the local Moroccan population, especially the Berbers.