Marrakech: the red city

Marrakech is the third largest city in the country after Casablanca and Rabat, and is the capital of the region southwest of Marrakech.

Marrakech is the most important of the four former royal cities of Morocco (city built by the Moroccan-Berber empire). In the twelfth century, the Almoravids built numerous madrasas (Koran schools) and mosques in Marrakech with Andalusian influences. The red walls of the city, at the behest of Ali ibn Yusufnel 1122-1123, and various buildings built during this period from sandstone, gave the city the nickname "red city" or "city ocher".

“The 4 royal cities are: Marrakech, Fez, Meknes and Rabat.”

What is Jemaa el Fna?

"It is an ocean. You can swim in the sea, but the Jemaa el Fna sea cannot know everything. "What is Jemaa el Fna? “Jemaa el Fna Square is a source of art”, “a university, not just a school”, “Jemaa el Fna is drama, poetry, invention, singing, magic.” “When you are in Jemaa el Fna, you leave their problems and you go into a mysterious world - that's why it's called Jemaa el Fna ”. This is how the conteurs / storytellers at Café de Madanie in Derb Labachi speak: a place in the medina, a popular meeting place for intellectuals in the real heart of Marrakech, the most famous place in the Maghreb.

History of Marrakech

The city lies in front of the giant Atlas. His fate is tied to the different dynasties. Its tradition as a metropolis of politics, economy and culture has always dominated the history of the Maghreb. Marrakech is "also the city of the show", where there is always a party, as you can see in Jemaa el Fna square, which has been the most popular theater in the world for centuries: snake charmers, musicians, dancers, actors, magicians ... There are endless places to visit in Marrakech: Medersa Ben Yussef, the Menara Garden, the Dar Si Said Museum, the Agdal Garden, the Saadiensi Tombs and Palaces of Badi and Bahia. Few people know that the oral and intangible heritage of humanity (Oral intagible heritage) began in Morocco on Jemaa el Fna Square. The Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo, transplanted in Marrakech in the 1970s and fascinated by the culture of the oral storyteller of Jemaa el Fna,, after many years of letters and meetings, creates a declaration from UNESCO (The Oral and Intangible Heritage) do.

(Once upon a time ...) "Kan ya ma kan .." ... Jemaa el Fna.