JARDIN MAJORELLE

Bewitching! That's the word that best describes the Majorelle garden. The beauty of its exotic plants and the inventiveness of its layout make this place an invitation to contemplation. This haven of peace and greenery was created in the 1920s by French painter Jacques Majorelle, a botanist and great admirer of Moroccan flora. After arriving in Marrakech in 1917 to treat his tuberculosis, Majorelle travelled the country, sketching scenes of daily life, before creating the ceiling of the Mamounia hotel restaurant and acquiring the property. It was around his villa-workshop, designed in 1931 by architect Paul Sinoir, that he had the rarest species planted, from Moroccan soil or more exotic locations: bougainvilleas, banana trees, palms, giant bamboos, yuccas, philodendrons, geraniums, among other species. After Majorelle's death in 1962, the garden fell into neglect, and the luxuriant vegetation was almost entirely replanted by the new owners, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. More than 300 species of plant now thrive, either in the ground or in vast, colorful, surrealist pots. YSL used color as a creative palette, and it is in the garden that the ashes of the couturier, who died in 2008, are laid to rest. In the warmer hours, the Majorelle garden is crowded with visitors looking for a spot of fresh air near the countless basins and ponds where papyrus and water lilies flourish. The painter's former studio, adjoining a pergola furnished in the purest Art Deco style and with walls of a surprising royal blue (the famous Majorelle blue), is now transformed into a small museum of Berber Art, after having long been a museum of Islamic Art. Inaugurated in 2011, this 200 m² museum houses the personal collections of Pierre Bergé who, fascinated by Berber culture and art, brought together some 600 objects acquired during his various travels, from the Rif to the Sahara. Visitors are invited to discover the culture of the Imazighen (Berbers) through four thematic rooms. Maps, explanatory labels (in French, English and Arabic), photographs, archive films and audiovisual documents accompany the scenography of the tour. To leave the museum, there's a small bookshop with a fine selection of works on this culture. The revenues generated by the Foundation have enabled the construction of the Yves Saint-Laurent Museum, located next door, whose astonishing architecture alone is worth the detour.