Palaces of the Kasbah

Bab Ksiba stands as the smallest of the nineteen gates of Marrakesh, identifiable by its plain, defensive horseshoe arch and the stark, earthen-colored stonework that blends into the surrounding walls. Built during the Almohad period, it…

Bab Agnaou features a massive horseshoe arch carved from blue-gray diorite stone, now weathered to a soft, brownish hue. It served as the formal entrance to the royal kasbah for the Almohad caliphs in the twelfth century. When the Sultan…

The minaret of the Moulay al-Yazid Mosque rises above the Mechouar Kasba with a band of green ceramic tile work near its top. Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur commissioned this building in the late sixteenth century to serve the royal palace…

The Saadian Tombs feature a narrow, unassuming passageway that leads into a lush garden filled with Italian Carrara marble markers. Behind these walls rest the remains of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur and his successors, enclosed for centuries…

The orange mud-brick walls of El Badi Palace rise above the Marrakesh skyline, their tops jagged and home to nesting storks. Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur built this complex in the late sixteenth century after his victory at the Battle of the…

The Bahia Palace spreads across eight hectares with a chaotic, non-linear floor plan that defies traditional Islamic architectural symmetry. Si Moussa, the grand vizier to Sultan Hassan the First, spent fourteen years in the late…

The Dar Si Said Museum features an intricate, carved cedar cupola that sits at the heart of its central courtyard. Si Said, the brother of the powerful grand vizier Ba Ahmed, built this palace in the late nineteenth century to serve as his…