Marrakesh
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Posted by George Delis in Travelling section |
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One of Morocco's most important cultural centres, Marrakesh is a lively former capital famed for its markets and festivals. Its wildly beating heart is the Place Djemaa el-Fna, a huge square in the old city. Rows of open-air food stalls are set up here and mouth-watering aromas fill the air. Jugglers, storytellers, snake charmers, magicians, acrobats and assorted benign lunatics take over the rest of the space. The souqs (markets) here are among the best in Morocco and a large budget hotel strip makes exploring the old city area cheap and easy.
Marrakesh became the capital of a vast empire in the reign of Youssef Ben Tachfine-an Empire, which, under the Almohads, reached as for as the frontiers of Libya.
The first Almohad sovereign, Abdelmoumen began the construction of the Koutoubia mosque, which his grandson Yacoub El Mansour adorned with a superb minaret, still standing today. His son Youssef had reservoirs dug and a spreading administrative district constructed-Marrakesh reached the height of its glory. Built in the same epoch as Seville’s “la Giralda” and Rabat’s “Tour Hassan”, the Koutoubia, dating from the 11th century, is a true masterpiece of hispano-moorish art. Its minaret rises to almost 70 meters.
The Badii Palace bas long been regarded as a wonder of the Muslim world. It was the sovereign Ahmed El Mansour Dahbi who undertook construction of the palace following his victory over the Portuguese in the year 986 of the hejira (1578), a victory well known in the Western World under the name of the Battle of the Three Kings.
The major construction work went on for sixteen years. Other marvels to be found in the Red City are the Dar Si Said museum, containing much quintessential Moroccan art and displaying the glittering array of gold and marble ornaments collected by Ahmed El Mansour (1578-1603), greatest of Saadian rulers, the Medersa Ben Youssef, a koranic school founded in 1570 by Moulay Abdallah and a true masterpiece of Merinid architecture, the Agdal gardens, laid out in the 12th century during the reign of Abdelmoumen and the Menara, a magnificent artificial lake fringed with flowers.
Framed by the snowy heights of the Atlas, with rose-colored ramparts and a thousand year old palm grove, Marrakesh casts a magic spell. Sumptuous and exuberant, it radiates splendor and mysticism; at the dye merchants, in the explosion of multicolored wools; at Festival time, in the rhythm of the music, in the emotion of the dancers; in the idle talk of the merchants and in the skill of the jugglers. Enchantment, you feel in the shade of the blue gardens and in the overwhelming perfection of the Koutoubia.
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