The medina
The medina, strategic centre and historical heart of Marrakech, is one of the largest medinas in Morocco and the most populated in North Africa. Its refinement and architecture originate from the military Almoravide camp. It invites you to lose yourself in its maze and acquire a better taste of its mysteries, a mixture of whispers, hidden gardens, shops and pervasive scents. All alleys will take you back to the Djema el-Fna square, part of the world’s heritage and large crossroad where story tellers, monkey trainers, snake charmers, feather sellers and itinerant dealers of traditional medicine await you to take you on an unusual journey to the doors of Africa. A horse carriage from another time will take you to discover the famous fortifications of the old town, with its beautiful doors (Bab in Arabic) glowing at sunset.
The mellah, in the south east of the medina was and remains up to this day, to a certain extent, the Jewish area of Marrakech. Far from being a ghetto, the Mellah used to shelter certain guilds which, following the history of Marrakech, gradually became specialities of this Jewish community (weaving was an example of that phenomenon). It was established in 1558 in the reign of Moulay Abdallah, in the vicinity of the palace, and this location, just like in Fez, enabled the sultan to offer to these guilts better protection.
