SAADIAN TOMBS

The mausoleums of the princes of the Saadian dynasty, which ruled Marrakech and Morocco for 125 years, were assembled at the end of the ^16th century by Ahmed le Doré. Their purpose was to embellish the koubba, where lie the remains of his father, Moulay Abdallah, his grandfather, Mohammed ech-Cheikh, founder of the Saadian dynasty, and the Marinid sultan Abu el-Hassan, buried here in 1359. This necropolis is the only vestige of the grandeur of a dynasty whose dedication to the development of the arts and diplomatic relations with the rest of the world earned Marrakech some of its renown beyond the seas. Ahmed el-Mansour, to whom the city already owed the construction of the El Badi palace, wanted to make these mausoleums masterpieces of Marrakchi art. Adorned with checkerboards of multicolored zelliges, edged with arabesques, vaulted with stucco stalactites and adorned with Italian marble, these tombs are of such beauty that when Marrakech fell into the hands of the Alaouites in 1654, Sultan Moulay Ismaïl, though inclined to raze everything that evoked the splendor of his predecessors, didn't dare touch them. He simply decided to surround them with an enclosure that only a few worshippers could enter through a back door in the Kasbah mosque. The existence of this necropolis was only revealed to the public in 1917. An access corridor runs alongside the mosque, allowing non-Muslims to admire this perfectly preserved architectural ensemble, where 66 members of this illustrious dynasty are laid to rest. Just beyond the entrance is the prayer room, which was not originally designed to accommodate tombs. A beautiful oratory is divided into three naves by four white marble columns. To the left, the mihrab is set in a refined décor. Opposite, a beautiful doorway leads to the great funerary hall, also known as the Hall of Kings. In the center of this room lies Ahmed the Golden, who died of the plague in Fez in 1603. 12 Carrara marble columns support the superb dome of carved cedar wood, sprinkled with gold. Around him lie members of his family and 3 of his successors. On the right, the Hall of the Princes contains the tombs of the children. In the garden lie the concubines and entourage. The courtyard, home to the tombs of the dynasty's servants, leads to a second mausoleum, covered in green glazed tiles and dedicated to Lalla Messaouda, mother of Ahmed the Golden, who was buried here in 1591 in a carved white marble sarcophagus.