Sense of Space

BADI PALACE

As we all know, having visitors in town prompts us to check off cultural sights in the guidebook, points of interest that we’d perhaps neglected during the lazy days of summer. Before Tara and Carlo’s arrival, we decided to poll some of our more informed friends. This in itself proved a bit tricky. How to one, balance our need for a “Top 10” must-visit list or at very least a “Top 5” with two, our desire not to seem too terribly ignorant of Marrakech. We’ve lived here going on four months now, after all. Our friend Craig proved just the resource we were looking for. The fellow is a walking history of Marrakech (let’s just say he’s on his second biography of Glaoui, a notorious tyrant ruler of Marrakech), so there was no sense of insider one-upmanship – he wins hands down.



“Okay,” says Craig, “I like to start by taking people to the Saadian Tombs and then on to the Badi Palace. After they’ve taken in the opulence and artistry of the Tombs, I take them to the Palace and say, [and here he makes an expansive gesture with his arms] ‘Now, imagine this place covered in gilt and tile’.” Not bad. Since we’ve yet to see either place, we’re rather excited, and I practice mimicking Craig’s docent-like gesticulations. This is very good. A few more minutes with this guy and we may never fess up to Carlo and Tara that we’re looking at these two sites with newbie eyes, too.




After arriving at the Saadian Tombs five minutes before the long mid-day close, we decided to take in a leisurely lunch at Kosybar before returning to see the tombs; we’d worked up quite an appetite navigating the souks all morning. We took lunch on the terrace where we enjoyed a great view of the storks and partook of a tasty Moroccan beer called Casablanca. Wandering back towards the Tombs, we got lost and ended up at the gates of the Badi Palace instead. Laziness won out and we decided to reverse Craig’s appearance schedule, taking in the Palace before the Tombs. We expected ruins to be a quick stop at a lackluster monument. We were wrong.


Instead, the vast plot and sighting of the Palace ruins proved a real treat. In the cramped Medina, where many of the streets are only single-file wide, the expanse of Badi gave us pause. The ruins of this 16th-Century Palace include numerous sunken gardens with fruit and olive trees, a lagoon, grand pools, and many halls, the most notable of which was the Koubba el Khamisiniyya, which had at one time fifty columns. All are enclosed within not just one, but two protective walls. A true fortress, and the most appealing level of crumbling decay we’ve seen in Morocco. After taking in the endless blue sky with puffs of autumnal cumulous clouds (yes, fall has finally arrived!), we headed to the Palace’s troglodyte quarters. Creepy even on a sparkling afternoon, the caves went on an on, pierced with beams of sunlight shooting through Renaissance-era skylights. Who lived down here, we wondered. Slaves? Discarded mistresses? No, that didn’t seem plausible since Sultan Ahmed el Mansour, the fellow who built the Palace, named one of its pavilions for his favorite mistress. At most historic sites, these pedestrian questions would have been easily answered by reading one of many informational plaques on the walls. Not so here. We’ve never visited a monument with a more minimal signage policy. We counted about five in the whole place, two of which pointed us to the terrace and exit. While a bit frustrating, it was a bit like we’d discovered the ruins ourselves. “Hey look, guys, it’s even got caves . . . er, dungeons. Cool.”

After the caves, we all needed some air and hiked up to the Palace’s terrace, which has to be one of the tallest in the Medina and from which we could see most of the Medina and the Atlas Mountains beyond. The ubiquitous minarets of the city’s many mosques were the poetic foil to the skyline’s other icon: the satellite dish. If ever there was a good cause for airbrushing, the dish is it.

MINISTERIO DEL GUSTO

We’d be remiss not to mention our trip to the thirteen-year-old Ministerio del Gusto space, tucked away on a side street near the Mouassine Fountain. Since most of our experience has been with more traditional riad renovations – even those that embrace a European minimalism retain some of the classic Moroccan architectural details like carved plaster and wood and interesting tile work – it was refreshing to enter the MdG space and get a shock of something entirely new. Or sort of. The place does have a slightly outmoded, kitchy feel. The references here are tribal and harken to styles south of Morocco’s borders. The gallery has been a favorite of all the design books on the country and we recognized elements like the rope banister that weaves up the house’s three stories, the fountain-plunge pool with its ethereal stick sculpture hanging above.

MdG is a gallery for art – more of Martina Bigot’s luminous sculptures – furniture, comprised of a mixture of classics like Eames lounge chairs (not so common here in Marrakech as in LA!) and designs by the gallery’s owners, as well as an enviable collection of vintage fashion and some beautiful glass pieces from Italy.

On the terrace is a rope hammock suspended between two columns that’s big enough for four and the place’s outdoor shower makes us regret our decision not to install one. We were concerned about our mosque proximity!

Context is, I guess, everything. Over the past several months, we’ve been inspired by Marrakech’s compactness and its Andalussian/Islamic design influences. MdG and the Badi Palace reminded us that big open spaces and great mid-Century furniture where you least expect them can be thought provoking as well.

PARTING SHOT

And we leave you with a bit of “poetry” that we overhead in the Place. It was delivered by a young Moroccan, one of the white-coated juice sellers, to an elderly Englishman:

Hey Old Man
Your promises like child
Fucking off.