After lunch we walked through the maze-like lane ways of the souk where even the most jaded of senses are restored to life by a myriad of colors, sounds and scents. As we were a group on a mission we did not linger or allow ourselves to be enticed deeper into narrow cavernous shops where we were likely to be detained by copious tea drinking and the persuasive powers of the well -practiced merchants. There would be plenty of time for that later but now Judith directed us through throngs of captive tourists into the bowels of the souk to the Place de la Kissaria where our first stop was the Ben Youssef Medressa. A Marinid Koranic school attached to a mosque of the same name it was first established in the mid fourteenth century and was named after an earlier Almoravid Sultan Ali Ibn Yusuf who is accredited with having brought Marrakesh to prominence.
It was rebuilt by the Saadians in 1560 and is considered to be the most beautifully decorated building in Marrakesh with its lace-like stucco work, its carved cedar wood doors, balconies and window frames, and zellij tiling it contains the finest examples of classical Moroccan architectural decoration. Its decorative motifs include pine cones, palm and acanthus leaves. Built around a central courtyard with a columned arcade along two sides the cell like dormitories are said to have housed eight hundred students which, given the size of the building, would appear to have been an impossible feat. As we entered the courtyard with its large central, rectangular pool like fountain my attention was drawn to a young man who sat under the arcade demonstrating the making of zellij tiles, a traditional form of geometric patterned mosaic, and he offered small unfinished samples for sale. As we wandered around the building I thought his time would be far better served in restoring the missing tiles in this most beautiful of buildings so deserving of preservation for future generations.
Before this particular trip to Morocco I had read a number of books recommended by Judith including the aforementioned The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah who wrote about his experience of selling his London apartment and moving with his wife and two young children to Casablanca where they lived surrounded by chaos as the ruins of a former palace were turned into a beautiful family home. The book is a truly funny and informed account of an outsider coming to grips with all the fun and frustrations of Moroccan life. The dilapidated palace came fully equipped with a group of local guardians and a medley of mischievous djinns. The writer had the good sense to employ local master craftsmen who were well versed in the traditional methods. Sixteen thousand square feet of wall was plastered in traditional tadelakt which is made with lime and marble dust and is varnished with egg white which binds the surface of the plaster and becomes harder over time. The floors were covered with terracotta tiles called bejmat which apart from the children’s room were unglazed throughout. A zellij mosaic fountain required five thousand mosaic pieces which were cut on the premises and worked into geometrical shapes including squares, chevrons, rhombuses, trapezoids, and eight-pointed stars. On hearing that Michael Palin have visited the couple I felt thoroughly envious as I would love to see it myself if only to see that zellij fountain and of course to meet the writer whose knowledge and sense of humour impressed me in equal measure.
Our next stop was the nearby Menebhi Palace a late nineteenth-century building built for a defense minister of that name, which houses the Marrakesh Museum. It was restored and opened as a museum in 1997 and displayed some examples of traditional arts, pottery, textile, and metalwork and some less impressive contemporary works. I was more interested in the Koubba Ba’adiyn which lay outside the museum and is probably the most important piece of architecture in all of Morocco. A small two storied kiosk which served as an annex for ablutions to the Ben Youssef Mosque, it is reputed to be the only Almoravid building in Morocco to remain intact and it provided a blueprint for all Moroccan architecture. Its keyhole or horseshoe arches became the classical shape of Moorish architecture along with its complex ribbed dome, its merlons and the square and star shaped octagon of the interior of the dome. Its decorative motifs of pine cones, and acanthus leaves were used in later buildings including the aforementioned madrassa and the building gives some idea of the architecture of the long disappeared mosque. Unfortunately we were reduced to viewing this wonder from behind its wroth- iron fencing as being restored it was not open to visitors at the time.
