The Gardens of Marrakech – in pictures

Marrakech is famed for its pink-hued historic buildings and souks, but just as important to the city are its gardens. From the lush courtyards of its riads to the expansive formal gardens of its palaces and museums, these green spaces are havens from the hustle and bustle of the city
  
  


Marrakech gardens: Badi Palace
The Agdal is the most important garden in Marrakech. Huge in its expanse and over 800 years old, it is sometimes referred to as the Islamic Versailles. A tiny part of it is open to the public twice weekly, on Fridays and Sundays, when people come to feed the monstrously large carp in the ancient water basin, picnic under the olive trees and, on a clear day in winter, admire the spectacular view of the snow-capped Atlas mountains against a pristine blue sky. Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Menara
The Menara is little sister to the Agdal – similar in design but covering 98 hectares compared to the Agdal's 500. Both gardens were developed around 1156-57 as part of an ambitious programme of improvement envisaged for the city by Sultan Abd el Moumen. Not content merely to emulate conventions of the past, El Moumen engendered a new garden type, the agdal, with an emphasis on scale and perspective. People come to the Menara to stroll around the cooling waters of its expansive irrigation tank, jog or picnic in the shade of the olive groves. Photograph: /Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Badi Palace
Place Ferblantiers is a lively little square in the south-east of the Medina, denoted by a huge eucalyptus tree and the sound of metal being worked into decorative lanterns. Pass through the archway known as the Bab Berrima and the atmosphere changes instantly. Ahead, hidden from view behind monumental walls lie the ruins of the once fabled Badi Palace (pictured), home of Sultan Ahmad el Mansour (1578–1603). At the heart of the design is a great ceremonial courtyard of near perfect symmetry, decorated with pools, pavilions and sunken gardens. Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Bahia Palace
Bahia Palace is in the south of the city, just a stone’s throw from the Badi Palace, but the two sites, which both celebrate great personal success, show very different faces to the world. The huge walls of the Badi shout omnipotence and, rather like the great Almohad gardens of the Menara and Agdal, the visitor gets the message in one powerful hit. The Bahia by contrast has barely a whisper of glory at the gate. Today Bahia is occasionally used by the royal family to house guests and is the home of the Moroccan ministry of cultural affairs. It is also a major tourist attraction where visitors are offered a condensed tour of palace highlights, including three important courtyard gardens. The first of these, and the youngest, is that of the Petit Riad (pictured), completed in 1898 and planted with orange trees. Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Riad Enija
Getting to the Riad Enija is something of an obstacle course. Situated in the Rahba Kedima quarter, it is in the thick of the souks where people weave their way through crowds, donkey carts, bicycles and motorbikes overloaded with lethal cargoes. But a parallel world exists behind the simple studded wooden door at the end of the narrow lane that is the Derb Mesfioui. Swedish architect Björn Conerdings and his Swiss wife, designer Ursula Haldimann, viewed more than two hundred properties in the Medina before being seduced by the beauty of the Riad Enija in the late 1990s. The original building was constructed in the 1730s as a collection of seven interconnected dars, with a riad garden (pictured) at its heart. Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Les Deux Tours
The scene is almost biblical: a dusty track, palm trees and a cluster of humble dwellings, a scattering of sheep and a donkey. Enter the twin-towered gateway of Les Deux Tours, created by the celebrated architect Charles Boccara, and the contrast is stark. Boccara and an associate bought this three-hectare plot in 1991. In 2008 the original property was renovated and extended and is now a peaceful hotel just a 15-minute drive from the city, but the gardens are the main event Photograph: Alessio Mei
Jnane Tamsna hotel, Marrakech
Jnane Tamsna is an unusual guesthouse in the Palmery owned by ethnobotanist Gary Martin and his wife Meryanne Loum-Martin. The couple have combined their interests in architecture, anthropology, design and botany to make something new, based on the rich cultural history of the region. Nature is encouraged to flow in and around the buildings, and there are no lawns as grass requires a large amount of water and is difficult to maintain in winter when temperatures fluctuate wildly. Many species which have disappeared from the arid, over-grazed land around – including wild asparagus, giant cane, medicinal herbs and wild flowers – have flourished here. Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Musee de la Palmeraie
Ten years in the making, the Musée de la Palmeraie (Palmery Museum) opened to the public in May 2011. There are three distinct gardens to discover. The first of these, the Andalusian Garden, is loosely inspired by the Moorish gardens of southern Spain, and in particular that of the Generalife in Granada, and features a long central canal flanked with rows of Seville orange trees. The Water Garden is dominated by a large, natural-shaped pool edged with smooth, rounded boulders like giant pebbles. The third, the cactus garden (pictured) was inspired by the museum's creator Abderrazzak Benchaabane’s love of American western movies Photograph: Alessio Mei
Marrakech gardens: Ksar Char-Bagh
At the heart of the Ksar Char-Bagh, a country house hotel situated in the Palmery, is a courtyard whose design pays homage to the great medieval Moorish gardens of Spain, and particularly to the Courtyard of the Myrtles in the Alambra Palace. Beyond the central pool (pictured) is a decorative vegetable garden inspired by medieval French potagers. In the car park is a line of London black cabs, used to ferry visitors around. Photograph: /Alessio Mei
 

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