Dar Si Said () is a historic late 19th-century palace and present-day

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrake ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

History

It was built between 1894 and 1900 by Si Sa'id ibn Musa, a

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

and minister of defence under his brother Ba Ahmad ibn Musa, who was the

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first h ...

and effective ruler of Morocco during the same period under Sultan Abdelaziz (ruled 1894–1908). After 1914, under the French Protectorate administration, the palace served as the seat of the regional leaders of Marrakesh. It was converted into a museum of "indigenous arts" (meaning Moroccan art) and woodcraft in 1930 or 1932. In 1957, after Moroccan independence, the palace was split into a museum section and a section occupied by the ''Service de l’Artisanat'' (Agency of Artisanship). It has been restored several times since and remains a museum today. Following the most recent renovations, carried out by the recently-created ''Fondation Nationale des Musées'', the museum reopened in 2018 as the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets.

Architecture

The palace's architecture is similar in ornament to the

Bahia Palace , ber, ⵜⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔⵜ ⵏ Иⴱⴰⵀⵢⴰ) , native_name_lang = , image = Bahia Palace large court.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Grand Courtyard of the Bahia Palace , map_type ...

built further south by his father and his brother, but unlike the latter it is built over more than one level and has a very different layout. Its architectural highlights include a grand reception hall on the upper floor and a large riad garden with a central pavilion of painted wood.

Museum collection

The museum collections includes a wide variety of objects, many of them from the southern regions of Morocco. Until recently the museum's exhibits focused on Moroccan wooden art and objects. Following its reopening in 2018, its current exhibits now focus on weaving and Moroccan

carpets A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

Andalusian marble basin

Among the most significant objects of the general collection is an elaborately carved marble basin from the Caliphate era of Cordoba. It was crafted at

Madinat al-Zahra Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara ( ar, مدينة الزهراء, translit=Madīnat az-Zahrā, lit=the radiant city) was a fortified palace-city on the western outskirts of Córdoba in present-day Spain. Its remains are a major archaeological ...

between 1002 and 1007 to serve as ablutions basin and was dedicated to 'Abd al-Malik, the son of

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...

, and was one of a series. It was previously kept at the

Ben Youssef Madrasa The Ben Youssef Madrasa ( ar, مدرسة ابن يوسف; also transliterated as Bin Yusuf or Ibn Yusuf Madrasa) is an Islamic madrasa (college) in Marrakesh, Morocco. Functioning today as a historical site, the Ben Youssef Madrasa was the larges ...

for centuries and was first noted by experts in 1923. Scholar Mariam Rosser-Owen has suggested that the basin was originally imported to Marrakesh by

Ali Ibn Yusuf Ali ibn Yusuf (also known as "Ali Ben Youssef") () (born 1084 died 26 January 1143) was the 5th Almoravid emir. He reigned from 1106–1143. Biography Ali ibn Yusuf was born in 1084 in Ceuta. He was the son of Yusuf ibn T ...

, who incorporated a number of marble

spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...

from the ruined palaces of Cordoba in the

Ben Youssef Mosque The Ben Youssef Mosque (also known by its English spelling as the "Ibn Yusuf Mosque"), is a mosque in the Medina quarter of Marrakesh, Morocco, named after the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf. It is arguably the oldest and most important mosque in ...

that he built in the 12th century. The basin would have then been re-used again for the Ben Youssef Madrasa, which was built in the same area much later, after the mosque had fallen into neglect.

Gallery

File:Museo Dar Si Said, Marrakech 07.JPG, The riad garden File:Dar si Said DSCF1681 (wiki).jpg, Painted decoration inside the wooden pavilion of the garden File:Οικία-μουσείο Dar Si Said 1490.jpg, A courtyard with fountain in the palace File:Dar si said DSCF1822.jpg, One of the grand halls in the palace File:Dar si said DSCF1706.jpg, Cupola over the grand hall File:Dar Si Said 1465.jpg, Rooms of the palace with exhibit on Moroccan carpets File:Dar si said basin DSCF1593.jpg, Carved marble basin crafted in Cordoba between 1002 and 1007 (late caliphal period)

References