Bahia Palace

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In the rich and mysterious East, in the north of Africa, in the hospitable and mysterious Morocco is one of its main pearls - the ancient Marrakech. Huge palaces, beautiful mosques, cool oases, oriental sweets, fairy tales of Scheherazade are all Marrakesh, the third largest city in the country.

One of the main and most beautiful sights of Marrakech, located in Medina, is a fairly young (1880) the palace of Bahia (Palais de la Bahia), or, in translation, the "Palace of Beauty". He was lined up for one of the four wives of the harem Bu Ahmed Sidi Moussa, the great vizier of the rulers of Moulay-Hasan and Moulay-Abd-al-Aziz. The palace in the Moorish style is well preserved and covers an area of eight hectares

Many secrets are kept and courtyards decorated with elegant ornaments and hedges, and shady alleys, and splashing neat fountains.

Sidi Mussa wished to present his beloved wife himself magnificent and beautiful palace in the country, although later there lived 3 more wives of the vizier and 24 of his concubines. Therefore, in the seven years of its construction, the architect Al-Haj Muhammad bin Macki al-Misfuy not only completed and rebuilt the palace once due to the fact that the Grand Vizier was constantly buying new neighboring sites. Materials (tiles, marble and others) were brought from all over the country

Palais de la Bahia Palace - Marrakech

The general Arab philosophy about the house says that everything must be kept away from other people's and evil eyes, so as not to cause envy among others. And the palace of Bahia is outwardly unremarkable, even dull, but this impression is too deceptive.

Inside is a magical casket, where the rooms are located on the principle of a labyrinth devoid of clear planning. The interior of the palace is amazing with its unsurpassed quality: decorated with painted ceilings and doors made of cedar wood, beautiful traditional mosaics combined with carved stone and woodwork - everything is admired.

Many secrets are kept and courtyards decorated with elegant ornaments and hedges, and shady avenues, and splashing neat fountains. According to the legend, the courtyards in the palace are arranged so that the concubines do not meet, walking around the house. So it was a challenge for the architect. The luxurious atmosphere of the Bahia Palace has unfortunately not reached us,

The palace was built by almost a thousand workers from Fez. And when the construction was completed, the vizier became jealous of the sultan himself, for in elegance and beauty the Palace of Beauty surpassed all the palaces in Morocco. Immediately after the death of the Vizier in 1900, by the order of Sultan Abd al-Aziz, the palace of Bahia was devastated and plundered.

How to get to the Bahia Palace

Riad Zitoun al-Jidid Street is the jewelery market. Directly in front of him is the Bahia Palace

The time of the Bahia Palace

To plunge into the interior of the palace decorated with mosaic, to see the wonderful courtyard, the garden with oranges trees, the fountain is daily from 8:30 to 11:45 and from 14 : 45 to 17:45 for only 10 MAD.

Today, unfortunately, not all parts of the palace (more than 150 rooms) are open to guests - only the first floor. But this wonderful place, lost in the labyrinths of the narrow streets of Medina, attracts tourists and gives, in addition to the mass of impressions, an idea of the life of the richest Moroccans a couple of centuries ago.

Bahia Palace

One of the rooms, Bahia Palace

Fountain, Bahia Palace

Ceiling Painting, Dvo eats Bahia, Marrakech

Ceiling Painting, Bahia Palace

Relief, Bahia Palace