History, architecture & heritage

Gardens of water and olives.
A Marrakech landmark.

The story of the Menara, from an Almohad estate outside the city walls to the pavilion on the water’s edge.

The Menara Pavilion with its green-tiled pyramid roof above the basin — The pavilion and its green-tiled roof above the great basin.

An Almohad estate outside the walls

The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu’min established the Menara Gardens in 1157, outside the walls of Marrakech. They were probably laid out by Hajj al-Ya’ish, an engineer from Málaga, as a great walled estate of orchards around a central basin.

Old olive trees in the orchards of the Menara Gardens

The Menara Pavilion seen across the still water of the basin

Water from the Atlas

Underground channels called khettaras, dug at a gentle slope, brought groundwater from the foot of the High Atlas. The basin, about 195 metres long and 160 metres wide, stands above the level of the orchards, so its water could reach the trees by gravity even in the dry months.

A pavilion rebuilt in the 19th century

The Saadians built a first pavilion here in the 16th century. The Alaouite sultans Moulay Abd ar-Rahman and Muhammad IV later restored and replanted the gardens, and Muhammad IV’s new pavilion was completed in 1870: the inscription above its northern balcony gives the Islamic year 1286.