PALAIS EL BADI

The El Badi Palace, which means "the Incomparable", was built to commemorate the defeat of the Portuguese at Oued el-Maghazin (the Battle of the Three Kings). In 1578, Ahmed al-Mansour, known as Ahmed the Golden, financed its construction thanks to gold taken from the defeated Portuguese, gold from Guinea that transited through Marrakesh, and thanks to the development of the sugar trade in the Souss valley. Ahmed le Doré does not skimp on either the cost or the time to carry out the business: he brings to Marrakech the most famous craftsmen from Andalusia and Catalonia, imports onyx from France, marble from Italy, granite from Ireland, gets the ivory from Black Africa and India. The most skilful artists in the Arab world chisel mosaics and ceilings that are said to be covered with patterns and zelliges engraved in gold leaf! Inside this vast enclosure, now desolate, imagine a score of domes covered with green tiles... It is said that the marble blocks from the prestigious quarries of Carrara in Italy are bartered for their weight... in sugar (of which Morocco was then a producer), while the craftsmen are paid, each year, for their weight... in gold. The El Badi Palace is intended for royal celebrations: 360 rooms, including those of four gigantic princely pavilions, are built around the inner courtyard (which is today the only vestige of this palace of the Thousand and One Nights) and the ablution basin, created by Ahmed the Golden One to make it the largest in the Maghreb (90 m by 20 m). It even seems that the palace is equipped, by the best engineers from Europe, with one of the first central heating systems using copper pipes to convey hot or cold water. Ahmed the Golden will devote 25 years to build this palace which will remain unfinished at his death. Once finished, this work will not remain standing for long! In 1672, the Alawite sovereign Moualy Ismaïl dismantled the palace to enrich the residences of Meknes, the new imperial capital. Since they are only ruins, one must soak up the history and focus on the immense courtyard to imagine the palace in its former splendour. Inside is the minbar of the Koutoubia (pulpit to preach) dating from the 12th century, made by the craftsmen of Cordoba, in carved and inlaid cedar wood covered with gold and silver. He went out for Friday prayers until 1992. Since 2011, the El Badi Palace is used as a stage for the Marrakech du Rire festival, organized by Jamel Debbouze.