Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
workshops are regular draws, and admission is usually free (there's a charge for some
events).
During Ramadan, the foundation also hosts a series of evening music concerts in the
central courtyard.
Ali ben Youssef Medersa
MEDERSA
( 0524 44 18 93; Pl ben Youssef; adult/child Dh50/30, with Musée de Marrakesh Dh60; 9am-6pm
winter, to 7pm summer)
'You who enter my door, may your highest hopes be exceeded' reads
the inscription over the entryway to the
medersa
(theological collage), and after almost six
centuries, the blessing still works its charms on visitors. Founded in the 14th century un-
der the Merenids, this Quranic learning centre was once the largest in North Africa, and
remains among the most splendid.
Sight lines are lifted in the entry with carved Atlas cedar cupolas and
mashrabiyya
(wooden-lattice screen) balconies. The courtyard is a mind-boggling profusion of
Hispano-Moresque ornament: five-colour
zellij
(mosaic) walls; stucco archways; cedar
windows with weather-worn carved vines; and a curved mihrab (eastern-facing niche in-
dicating the direction of Mecca) of prized, milky-white Italian Carrara marble.
closed to non-Muslims)
, and once 900 students in 132 dorms arranged around the court-
yard studied religious and legal texts here. Despite upgrades with its 19th-century renova-
tion, the Ali ben Youssef Medersa gradually lost students to its collegiate rival, the
Medera Bou Inania in Fez, but the
medersa
still exudes magnificent, studious calm.
Musée de Marrakech
MUSEUM
( 0524 44 18 93;
www.museedemarrakech.ma
; Pl ben Youssef; admission Dh50, with Ali ben Youssef
Medersa Dh60; 9am-6.30pm)
Maybe the rumours are true of a curse on the Mnebhi Palace,
now home to Musée de Marrakech. Its low walls and inner courtyard left no place to hide
for Mehdi Mnebhi, defence minister during Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz' troubled
1894-1908 reign. While Minister Mnebhi was away receiving a medal from Queen Vict-
oria, England conspired with France and Spain to colonise North Africa. In Mnebhi's ab-
sence, autocrat Pasha Glaoui filched his palace - but after independence, it was seized by
the state and became Marrakesh's first girls' school in 1965.
