History & Soul of Marrakech

Understand the layers that shaped the red city.

In the 11th century, the Almoravids chose a camp at the foot of the Atlas. The red city was born.

In the 12th century, the Almohads transformed Marrakech and gave it its iconic minaret.

In the 16th century, the Saadians made Marrakech a prestigious capital, rich in gold and marble.

In the late 19th century, grand vizier Ba Ahmed built a sumptuous palace that sums up Moroccan decorative art.

UNESCO-listed since 1985, the medina is inhabited, worked, and crossed by hundreds of thousands of people every day.

Storytellers, musicians, charmers: the square is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

In Marrakech, water is both luxury and art. The gardens express a millennium-old hydraulic heritage.

Marrakech was long the arrival point of caravans. That merchant DNA still structures the medina.

The courtyard house, closed to the street and open to the sky — the whole Moroccan art of living.

The red city has always been a pivot between plain, mountain and the deep South.

Figures & memory

A few key figures tied to the history and cultural image of Marrakech.

Almoravid sultan, historical founder of Marrakech in the 11th century.

First Almohad caliph, he transformed Marrakech in the 12th century.

Saadian sultan of the 16th century, nicknamed "the Golden".

Grand vizier of the late 19th century, patron of the Bahia Palace.

French painter who settled in Marrakech in the early 20th century, creator of the Majorelle Garden.

French couturier who deeply loved Marrakech and saved the Majorelle Garden.

A collective figure: the hlayqia, guardians of a unique oral memory.