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| Home > City Guide - Marrakech - City Overview | ||
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City Overview Enchantingly sited at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains, its rose-coloured walls set within lush green gardens, olive groves and palmeries, it is hard to imagine that Marrakech, one of Morocco’s four Imperial Cities, lies on the edge of the Sahara. Its very name conjures up images of magic carpets and snake charmers – and not without reason. After dark, the central square in the medina, Jemaa-el-Fna, comes to life and puts on a show little changed since medieval times. It is a riot of enticing colour, noise and smells, with dancers, fire-eaters and acrobats, snake charmers and snake oil salesmen, story tellers and fortune-tellers and rows of trestle tables serving up smoking barbecues, mouth-watering tajines and less-than-appetising entrails. Around this vast open space stretch the shadowy alleyways of the souks, a vast marketplace selling herbs and potions, carpets and candles, jewellery, spices, meat and metalwork. Marrakech has long been an important crossroads and trading centre for the Arabic, Berber and black African civilisation. To the Arabic northerners, it is seen as the ‘beginning of the south’. Founded around 1070 by the Berber Almoravids, Marrakech soon became the capital of an Islamic empire that reached from central Spain to West Africa. The Almoravid conquest of southern Spain led to an exchange of culture investing this remote desert enclave with the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Andalucia, something that it has retained a feel for, despite the later destruction of the city when it fell to the Arab Almohads. The architectural influence of the Almohads was – many of the city’s best-known landmarks, such as the mosques Koutabia and El Mansour, date from their conquest, as do the vast mud walls which encase the medina. Other dynasties such as the Saadians, builders of the glorious Saadian Tombs, later ruled the city, each adding their own architectural stamp. The last to arrive, in the 20th century, were the French, under whose rule the modern town of Guéliz, was built to the west of the city walls. Yet perhaps the most significant legacy of this colonial rule is the French language, which is still spoken by all educated Moroccans. Despite the European influences, Marrakech is an Islamic city and a very male-dominated society. However, Islamic fundamentalism has never taken root here and many women adopt Western dress, have jobs (albeit relatively menial ones) and an active social life. It is one of the more liberal Muslim countries and the Government is keen to promote Morocco as a progressive, liberal Muslim state. The new king, Mohammed VI, is actively promoting the education of women and disadvantaged groups such as the Berbers, the indigenous population of the Atlas mountains. Contrary to general misconception, the Berbers also make up over half of the population of Marrakech itself and, at a very rough estimate, only about 10% of residents can claim to be ‘pure’ Arabs. The hustlers who, until recently, made life intolerable for tourists are now firmly controlled by tourist police and the restoration of its many riads (merchant houses) into bed and breakfasts, restaurants and holiday homes have breathed new life into the decaying medina. Marrakech is a magical place for a holiday, best visited in early spring or late autumn, a true oasis, away from the desert and the rigours of modern life. |
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