Visiting Morocco in May, one of the busiest months for tourism, means meeting a lot of visitors in not-very-big spaces—and even, occasionally, not being able to visit some of them.
The Bahia Palace in Marrakech, as you can see above, is very popular, one of the most-visited spots in the city. We visited with a walking tour, and even with the guide buying tickets ahead, there was quite a wait to get in, and quite a crowd within when we got there.
Unlike many of the palaces I’ve visited over the years, the Bahia Palace is not a monument to a long history, but rather to the astonishing wealth and power of an important Moroccan family of the not-so-long-ago 19th century. It was built by Si Musa, the Grand Vizier to the then Sultan of Morocco, Muhammaad IV; he started building in 1860, just after his boss ascended the throne.
It includes a fascinating mix of traditional with more recent styles, and is famous for its ornate painted wood ceilings. The original part of the building, called the Grand Riad, is not only opulent but big; 150 rooms allowed space not only for business and entertainment but also for Si Musa’s considerable harem. Si Musa died in 1876, three years after Muhammad IV, but the dynastic connection continued. Si Musa’s son Ba Ahmed, became Grand Vizier to Moulay Hassan, the next Sultan.
When Moulay Hassan died in 1894, Ba Ahmed was on hand to make sure that the throne went to Moulay Hassan’s teen-age son Abdelaziz. For the next six years, until his own death, Ba Ahmed was effectively the ruler of Morocco—as well as a man busily expanding the Bahia Palace and its gardens whenever neighboring property became available.
Among the Ba Ahmed additions were the Small Riad, with its important reception room and private rooms for Ba Ahmed and his favorite wife.
During the French Protectorate, which started in 1912, the Bahia Palace was used as a residence for Marshal Lyautey, the French Resident-General. After Moroccan independence in 1955, it became a residence for King Mohammed V. His son, King Hassan II, turned it over to the Ministry of Culture, which restored it and opened it to the public.
Not far away—and no, we didn’t go by cart, we walked—are a far older piece of Marrakech’s heritage, the Saadian Tombs, named for the Saadi dynasty that created them as a formal necropolis in the 16th century, although the site had already been used for some burials for a century or so before.
In fact, the whole history of the tombs is a bit of a mystery. It’s built up against the walls of the 12th-century citadel or kasbah. In the 14th century, an exiled Sultan was buried there but then moved to Rabat, leaving behind a tombstone. There were some burials in the early 16th century, but the present complex dates to the last years of that century. And even after that, its exact timeline is murky.
After the present rulers, the Alawi dynasty, displaced the Saadis in the early 17th century, they sealed the buildings in the cemetery complex off from the rest of the kasbah, but burials of royalty continued there until around the end of the 18th century, when it was completely sealed, leaving within about 150 graves, a third or so marked with tombstones and the rest, including the outdoor ones, marked only by colored tiles. It was ‘rediscovered’ in 1917 by the French-created Fine Arts and Monuments Service, which started its restoration.
But restoration is a tricky thing here: Over the centuries, succeeding sultans had graves moved, grouping and regrouping favorites or moving older burials to make room for themselves and their dear departed. Sometimes stones were moved, too, and sometimes not. The Hall of Twelve Columns, meant by an early Sultan as a tomb only for himself and perhaps a few close relatives is now filled with others.
The Hall of Twelve Columns, we were told by our guide, is the ‘best’ room in the tombs to visit, but unfortunately, at the time of our visit there was a waiting line of over 45 minutes to view it. He took a vote: Wait, and be late for lunch, or skip it. Sadly, the majority agreed to skip it, but fortunately, we have an excellent photo of it made a year or so ago by DrFumblefinger.
Nearby is the Kasbah Mosque, for centuries the place of worship in Marrakech for Morocco’s rulers. Built in the 12th century and badly damaged and restored after an explosion in the 16th century, it’s still undergoing repairs for damage from the 2023 earthquake.
I visited this complex when I was in Morocco. It’s an interesting place to visit.