Palaces of the Kasbah

Bab Ksiba is identified by the large, ancient eucalyptus tree standing to one side of its stone archway. While many of the nineteen gates of Marrakesh are grander in scale, this entrance to the southern end of the royal Kasbah is…

You can identify Bab Agnaou by its heavy, horseshoe archway, faced in distinct bluish-grey sandstone that has weathered over eight centuries into a warm, reddish hue. Unlike the simple clay-built gates common to the city walls, this…

The Moulay al-Yazid Mosque, often called the Kasbah Mosque, is distinguished by the soaring minaret at its northwestern corner, which features a frieze of intricate green and white zellige tilework near its summit. Built between eleven…

The Saadian Tombs in Marrakesh hold the remains of the Saadian dynasty, a royal family that ruled Morocco from fifteen fifty-four until sixteen fifty-nine. The site is a compact necropolis recognized by its two main mausoleum buildings and…

El Badi Palace is defined by its massive, empty enclosure of golden-hued rammed-earth walls, rising high above the ground and topped with the large, untidy nests of storks. Commissioned in fifteen seventy-eight by the Saadian Sultan Ahmed…

The Bahia Palace unfolds as a maze of one hundred and fifty rooms spread across a single level, a layout dictated by the physical stature of the man who expanded it. You can identify the complex by its sprawling footprint in the southern…

The Dar Si Said Museum is defined by its ornate, traditional riad courtyard featuring a central pavilion of carved wood and a mosaic fountain. This building began as a private residential palace, commissioned between eighteen ninety-four…