Grand Courtyard
Marble, zellij, galleries.
Val Traveler — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Azoui abdelhamid — CC BY-SA 4.0 · C messier — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stolbovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Yair Haklai — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0
A nineteenth-century palace in the medina, begun by the grand vizier Si Musa in the 1860s and enlarged by his son, the grand vizier Ba Ahmed, between 1894 and 1900 into one of the most lavish palaces of its day. Its name, al-Bahia, means the brilliant or the beautiful. The palace has about a hundred and fifty rooms set around internal courtyards and riad gardens, in an irregular plan that grew with each extension. It is best known for its painted cedarwood ceilings, carved stucco and the coloured zellij tilework covering walls and floors. Its largest space is the Grand Courtyard, a vast court paved in marble and zellij and ringed by galleries with painted wooden columns and latticed windows, alongside the Grand Riad with its gardens, fountains and trees, and the Council Chamber with its decorated ceiling. A foreign visitor's ticket costs one hundred dirhams according to the Ministry of Culture's e-ticketing site, half that for children aged seven to thirteen, and it opens daily from nine to five. Arrive at opening time, before the tour groups; it is near El Badi Palace and the Mellah.
Marble, zellij, galleries.
Painted and carved wood.
Gardens and fountains.
Riad Zitoun el-Jdid, medina, Marrakech
Mellah and Lazama SynagogueThe historic quarter of Marrakech's Moroccan Jews, founded by decree of the Saad2 minutes walk
Dar Si Said MuseumA late nineteenth-century palace in the medina, built between 1894 and 1900 by S3 minutes walk
El Badi PalaceThe ruins of a lavish palace commissioned by the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur 7 minutes walk
Saadian TombsThe royal necropolis of the Saadian sultans and their families, behind the Kasba10 minutes walk
Jemaa el-FnaaThe great square of Marrakech's old city and its beating heart for centuries, wh10 minutes walkAt opening time, nine in the morning; after eleven the courtyards fill with tour groups.