The Bahia Palace in Marrakech is a true masterpiece of Moroccan architecture and is the main attraction of the city. Construction of the palace began in 1880 and ended in 1900. The building was erected by order of the Grand Vizier of Marrakesh, Ahmed ben Moussa, for one of his wives.
During construction, the Grand Vizier continued to acquire new plots, so the plan of the palace was constantly changing. Most of the chambers were completed separately, as a result of which the palace building began to resemble a huge labyrinth. Like most other buildings in the Arab-Andalusian style, the Bahia Palace has a beautiful garden, a charming patio and many chambers, decorated with patterned wooden ceilings and exquisite stucco.
The older part of the palace consists of a garden with cypress trees, orange trees, banana trees and fountains. The new part was built already under Sultan Abd al-Aziz. This work was carried out by the famous architect Muhammad bin Al-Makki Al-Misfiw.
The luxury and beauty of the palace could not leave the mature Sultan Abd al-Azize alone, becoming an object of envy, so after the death of the vizier Sidi Moussa, he simply plundered the palace.
From the outside, the vizier's house hardly resembles a palace. Fearing the envy of the people, the Sultan ordered that any decorations on the outside should be avoided. At the same time, the inside of the palace amazes with its wealth and beauty. Wooden carved decorations, national mosaics, painted doors and cedar ceilings evoke special admiration from guests visiting the palace.
Today, of the 150 palace halls, only the first floor chambers are accessible to the public. The main hall, decorated with cedar from Meknes, receives great attention from visitors. From here you can enter the front courtyard, paved with expensive Carrara marble and surrounded by columns decorated with traditional arabesques. Here you can also admire the wonderful fountains made of Meknes marble.
Bahia Palace is one of the most luxurious palaces in the city of Marrakech, located in the Old Town, near the Mellah market. The Palace of the Beauty (this is how the name of the palace is translated) was built by order of Ahmed Ben Moussa, the grand vizier and regent under the young Sultan Abd al Aziz, for his wives and concubines. The work was carried out from 1859 to 1900, in several stages. The plan of the palace changed several times, as the Grand Vizier constantly annexed neighboring plots of land, the total area of which eventually amounted to 8 hectares. Most of the chambers were completed separately, as a result of which the palace began to resemble a huge labyrinth, consisting of living quarters, courtyards with galleries, gardens, pavilions and outbuildings. The palace was built in the Arab-Andalusian style, the author of the project is the architect Mohamed bin Makki al-Misfui, who was also entrusted with the design of the interiors. The inconspicuous walls surrounding the palace hid from prying eyes the wealth and splendor of one of the most beautiful palaces in Morocco - citrus, jasmine and cypress gardens with fountains and openwork gazebos, a large courtyard "Court of Honor", paved with marble slabs and zelige tiles, arched galleries , secluded courtyards, carved columns, facades with exquisite ornaments and stucco. The interior of the palace premises was even more magnificent - painted cedar ceilings, carved doors, mosaic panels, onyx fountain bowls, openwork grilles, fireplaces, sculptures. Not one of the 160 rooms of the palace was like another; the size of the chambers and the splendor of the decor directly depended on the vizier’s favor towards one or another concubine. To decorate the palace, marble was delivered from Meknes (in turn, it was brought to Meknes from Italy), cedar was brought from the Atlas mountain region, and tiles were brought from Tetouan. About a thousand of the best artisans and craftsmen from Fez worked on the construction of the palace for several years. The Bahia Palace was literally drowning in luxury; the Sultan himself was jealous of its wealth. In 1900, just a few hours after the death of Ba Ahmed, Sultan Abd al Aziz ordered the removal of furniture and all decorative elements from the palace. Beauty's palace was devastated. Only a small fraction of its former luxury has survived to this day; the reception hall, first floor chambers and the “marble” courtyard are available for visiting. But this is enough to imagine the former splendor of the palace.
The Bahia Palace is, in fact, perhaps the main, but undoubtedly the most beautiful attraction of Marrakesh. It is not very old, since it was built in 1880, that is, we can say that it is relatively young. The palace is open to visitors from 9 am to 6 pm, but you should note that during the day it closes for lunch - from 12 to 14.30. You only have to pay 10 MAD to enter the palace.
The history of the palace is simple - the Grand Vizier Sidi Moussa, who served alternately with two sultans Moulay Hassan, and later with Moulay Abd al-Aziz, bought a fairly decent plot of land as a gift for his beloved wife and built the Bahia Palace on it. This name is literally translated into Russian as “Palace of the Beauty”. The palace took a long time to build - seven whole years, and its architect had to complete the construction of the palace many times. It must be said that construction took place on a large scale - marble and tiles were brought from literally all corners of the country, since the vizier dreamed of seeing his new palace as the largest and most magnificent in the state.
Inside, the palace resembles a very interesting and very mysterious box - from the living rooms you can get into closed courtyards with fountains, but from these rooms it is impossible to get into those rooms occupied by family members. The Bahia Palace is a typical representative of Eastern philosophy - everything personal should be securely hidden from prying eyes. The same principle is essentially used in modern architecture, that is, on the outside everything looks quite modest so that others do not envy, but inside you can already give free rein to luxury. 
It so happened that upon completion of construction, the Bahia Palace surpassed the palace of the Sultan himself in its beauty and splendor. Naturally, the Sultan
Moulay Abd al-Aziz did not like this situation too much. Therefore, immediately after the death of the vizier in 1900, the Sultan immediately ordered the palace to be plundered.
What is most striking about the palace is the beautiful traditional mosaics, carved woodwork, and painted cedar doors and ceilings. All this is reminiscent of the interiors of palaces from famous Arabian fairy tales. And in general, the palace is very interesting not only for the design of its interior, but also for its intricate labyrinth of rooms. But from the outside it all looks quite dull. 
But how beautiful everything is inside - graceful courtyards with a lot of secrets hidden in them, hedges, shady alleys and splashing fountains. Local residents say that all the internal chambers of the palace were designed in such a way that during walks the vizier’s concubines, and there were 25 of them, did not intersect with each other. So the architect certainly had a very difficult task.
Unfortunately, today not all rooms of the palace are open to visitors. Most of the courtyard and the entire second floor are still completely closed to the public.
- Address: 5 Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
- Telephone: +212 5243-89511
- Official site: palais-bahia.com
- Architect: Al-Hajj Mohamed ben Makki al-Misfui
- Construction: 1859-1900
- Working hours: from 8.00 to 16.30, Friday - closed
– a country of oriental exoticism, sandy beaches and traditional green tea. And, although the bulk of tourists come here for the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, it cannot be said that the country is poor in attractions. The Bahia Palace is one of the pearls of Morocco.
What is the Bahia Palace interesting for tourists?
Arabic philosophy states that everything personal should be kept away from prying eyes. Therefore, the Bahia Palace appears before us in the form of a kind of box - from the outside it looks quite simple, but its interior is simply amazing in its luxury. Translated, its name means “Palace of the Beauty”.
The building itself cannot be called old. Its construction began in 1880 and was eventually divided into two stages. In addition, the palace was constantly expanded in the future. These luxurious mansions were intended for the four wives of the vizier Sultan Si Moussa and his 24 concubines. And since the vizier constantly increased his territories and his harem, the palace grew with them. A tourist who finds himself here may feel as if he is in some kind of labyrinth of corridors and rooms. Surprisingly, this impression is not deceptive. The palace was specially designed to confuse the owner’s wives, and none of them could trace which concubine the vizier was heading to that night.
The Bahia Palace in Marrakech is a typical representative of the Arab-Andalusian style of architecture. The total area of land it occupies reaches eight hectares! Once upon a time, the Bahia Palace surpassed the Sultan's in its luxury, but today only crumbs of its former greatness remain. Today we can see the interior decoration of the rooms. There are a lot of mosaics, elegant stucco, wood and stone carvings. By the way, there were carved ceilings in the bedrooms of each of the vizier’s four wives, since the husband was obliged to love and care for each of the spouses equally. The roof of the palace is covered with green tiles.
There are a lot of houses in Morocco with courtyards - patios. They were created for the purpose of privacy and separation of personal space from the crowd and neighbors. In the Bahia Palace, a simply huge area, paved with tiles, with a green garden and small fountains, is reserved for the patio. There is even a small swimming pool in the center. Along the entire perimeter, the courtyard is surrounded by a gallery in order to hide the interior from prying eyes.
How to visit?Today, only the first floor and the courtyard are open to tourists. But even despite this factor, the Bahia Palace is extremely popular among vacationers. After all, by closing your eyes and abstracting yourself from external noise, you can imagine yourself as a formidable vizier or the most beloved of his wives.
Finding the Bahia Palace is quite easy. You need to focus on the jewelry market on Riad Zitoun el Jdid street, and right opposite it is the palace.
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