The Menara Gardens ( ar, حدائق المنارة) are a historic public garden and
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...
in
Marrakech,
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 ...
. They were established in the 12th century (circa 1157) by the
Almohad Caliphate
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...
ruler
Abd al-Mu'min
Abd al Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) ( ar, عبد المؤمن بن علي or عبد المومن الــكـومي; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad mov ...
. Along with the
Agdal Gardens
The Agdal Gardens (or Aguedal Gardens) are a large area of historic gardens and orchards in Marrakesh, Morocco. The gardens are located to the south of the city's historic Kasbah and its royal palace. Together with the medina of Marrakech and the ...
and the historic walled city of Marrakesh, the gardens have been listed as
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
since 1985. The gardens are laid out around a central water basin and
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
, next to which is a pleasure
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
dating in its current form from the 19th century. The reservoir and its pavilion, often framed in pictures against the background of the
High Atlas Mountains to the south, are considered one of the iconic views and symbols of Marrakesh.
Etymology
![Menara Garden (Marrakech, Moroc) 07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Menara_Garden_%28Marrakech%2C_Moroc%29_07.jpg)
The origin of the name ''Menara'' for the gardens is not firmly established. The name's first appearance (as ''Sahrij al-Manāra'') in historical sources is in 1579, during the
Saadian period.
The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word ''menara'' (منارَة) variously means "
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
", "lighthouse", "lantern/beacon" or other elevated structures of the kind. It is often suggested that this refers to the two-story pavilion standing on the edge of the main reservoir. However, other historians, such as Gaston Deverdun, have suggested that the name could date from as far back as the Almohad period (long before the current pavilion's construction) and that it may be an allusion to the minaret of the
Kutubiyya Mosque
The Kutubiyya Mosque ( ; Berber: ⵜⵉⵎⵣⴳⵉⴷⴰ ⵏ ⵍⴽⵓⵜⵓⴱⵉⵢⵢⴰ, french: Mosquée Koutoubia) or Koutoubia Mosque is the largest mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco. The mosque's name is also variably rendered as Jami' al-Ku ...
to the northeast, which was founded and begun under Abd al-Mu'min's reign and with which the gardens were more or less aligned.
History
The tradition of creating gardens on the outskirts of the city began early with the
Almoravids who founded Marrakesh in 1070. Multiple gardens, estates, and artificial lakes were established in multiple sites outside the
city walls, often referred to as ''buḥā'ir'' – singular ''Buḥayra'' – an Arabic word meaning "little sea", presumably in reference to the artificial lakes and large water basins. These garden estates continued to exist and develop under the Almohads who conquered the city in the 12th century.
The Menara Gardens were first established by
Abd al-Mu'min
Abd al Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) ( ar, عبد المؤمن بن علي or عبد المومن الــكـومي; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad mov ...
, the Almohad ruler who conquered the city, in 1157.
This dating has been deduced by scholars from historical chronicles describing Abd al-Mu'min's construction of an enormous garden estate west of the city which contained two large water reservoirs.
One of these reservoirs is the current one seen at the gardens today (although it was probably slightly modified in later restorations
). The second reservoir in question is believed to be the ''Sahrij al-Bgar'' (or ''Sahrij al-Baqar''), located outside and southeast of the Menara Gardens today, a short distance west of Bab Ighli and the Agdal Gardens.
Its name, meaning "basin of the cows", may be a reference to either a nearby cattle market at the time or to the raising of bulls for bullfighting which took place here under the later
Caliph al-Mustansir.
The ''Sahrij al-Bgar'' is no longer in use and lies empty today, but was probably part of the same garden estate at the time. This vast estate was in turn enclosed by a 6-mile-long wall (absent today). The Menara's location to the west of the city walls is also consistent with the fact that Abd al-Mu'min still used the former Almoravid palace, the ''Ksar al-Hajjar'' (located next to the present-day site of the Kutubiyya Mosque), as his residence. The gardens are also perfectly aligned with ''Bab al-Makhzen'', the western gate of the city, near the palace, which Abd al-Mu'min would have likely used to go in and out of the city.
The later palaces of the
Kasbah
A kasbah (, also ; ar, قَـصَـبَـة, qaṣaba, lit=fortress, , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term ''alca ...
, founded by the Almohads and to which the Agdal Gardens are connected today, were not yet built. The Agdal Gardens to the south of the city, in turn, were traditionally believed to date from Abd al-Mu'min's time as well but have been more conclusively dated to the reign of his successor
Abu Ya'qub Yusuf
Abu Ya`qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, whic ...
.
In early sources the garden and its location was also called ''Shuntululya''.
The gardens were likely designed by an engineer from
Malaga (
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
) named Hajj al-Ya'ish, who was also responsible for designing other mechanical projects under Abd al-Mu'min such as the automated ''
maqsura'' and
''minbar'' of the Kutubiyya Mosque.
One historical source, the Ḥulal al-Mawshiyya, describes how the estate's second water basin (the ''Sahrij al-Bgar'') was used at one point to train the ''ḥuffāẓ'' (singular ''ḥāfiẓ''; meaning "
Qur'an reader") how to swim.
The gardens and the city underwent a period of decline after the fall of the Almohads in the 13th century, when the Marinids moved the capital to Fez. When the
Saadian dynasty
The Saadi Sultanate (also rendered in English as Sa'di, Sa'did, Sa'dian, or Saadian; ar, السعديون, translit=as-saʿdiyyūn) was a state which ruled present-day Morocco and parts of West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was l ...
made Marrakesh the capital again in the 16th century, they also restored the gardens of the city.
It was the Saadians who initially built a pleasure pavilion overlooking the water reservoir.
However, the gardens owe their current condition to the reigns of the
Alaouite
The Alawi dynasty ( ar, سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, translit=sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning d ...
sultans
Moulay Abd ar-Rahman (ruled 1822–1859) and his son
Muhammad IV (ruled 1859–1873), who restored and replanted both the Menara and Agdal gardens. Under the reign of Abd ar-Rahman, his son Muhammad was
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
in Marrakesh and was responsible for carrying a part of the works, which then continued when Muhammad himself became sultan after his father. In addition to replanting the orchards and restoring the city's water supply system, Muhammad also built the current pavilion on the ruins of the old Saadian one, completed in 1870.
(Note: a smaller number of sources
cite the earlier 18th-century Alaouite sultan
Muhammad ibn Abdallah, who restored and built many other structures in Marrakesh, as the one who restored the Menara Gardens, although the pavilion's construction is precisely dated thanks to an inscription on the archway of its balcony.
) Up until the early 20th century the gardens were also used to raise ostriches, in line with a long tradition of sultans using wild animals to impress and entertain visitors.
Description
Geography
The gardens are located on a topographically flat area west of the city, outside the historic city walls and very close to the
Menara Airport. Today they still consist of the large central water basin, its historical pavilion, and a very large orchard around it. Together they cover a quadrilateral area about 1200 meters long (from northwest to southeast) and between 720 and 800 meters wide (from southwest to northeast).
The water reservoir has a rectangular shape 195 meters long and 160 meters wide.
Orchards
![Menaragarten Olivenhain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Menaragarten_Olivenhain.JPG)
Royal Moroccan gardens like the Menara were designed for a primarily productive
agricultural purpose, with its recreational purpose coming second.
While there have not been many comprehensive
archeological investigations of these gardens, historical texts provide some information about what was planted here and in other gardens like the Agdal. Throughout their history they were planted similar types of trees and crops, mostly fruit and
olive trees
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
.
Today the orchard still consists mostly of olive trees and to a lesser extent fruit trees and cypress trees. The trees are planted in a regular 10-meter grid.
Irrigation and water supply
The orchards are watered via an irrigation system which required regular maintenance. During periods of neglect and decline in the city's history, they were prone to
desertification. The creation of large water basins was designed to store large amounts of water which could be used to water the gardens year-round, even during the winter when rivers and other sources were typically dry. Water was brought to the city and to the gardens by a network of
''khettara''s: an ancient method where underground channels were dug at a steady gradient from lowland areas to tap directly into the
phreatic table of upland areas (in this case the nearby
High Atlas Mountains).
The water reservoir of the Menara is in turn built above ground so that the surrounding orchards, located at the lower ground level, could be watered with the help of gravity.
The walkway around the reservoir is reached by various stairs. At the foot of the stairs on the northeast side is a small ornamental octagonal basin and former fountain.
The pavilion
![Menara DSCF8297 (crop)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Menara_DSCF8297_%28crop%29.jpg)
The 19th century pavilion or ''menzeh'', built in stone,
has a rectangular floor plan, two floors, and is topped by a pyramidal green-tiled roof. It has been described as a classic example of royal pavilion architecture in Morocco during the Alaouite period.
The first floor, which was functional and used for domestic purposes, consists of a large room between four heavy pillars, plus an exterior triple-arched
portico that projects northwards and opens onto the edge of the artificial lake. An entrance doorway is also located on the south side of the building. The upper floor is reached via a steep straight staircase. This upper floor consists of a large square room, with a low rectangular door that leads to a rectangular balcony on its north side on top of the projecting ground-floor portico. The low door was possibly made this way to prevent public onlookers below from seeing inside the building when it was open. The staircase to the upper floor also continues to the roof, where a much smaller balcony on the south side provided views over the orchards and towards the Atlas Mountains. The pavilion is also set inside its own small garden area enclosed by its another wall, separating it from the rest of the public grounds around it.
As with other Alaouite structures of the 18th-19th centuries, the decoration of the pavilion is relatively austere compared to earlier periods of
Moroccan architecture
Moroccan architecture refers to the architecture characteristic of Morocco throughout its history and up to modern times. The country's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military ...
. On the exterior, the corners and edges of the pavilion's walls are painted to look like
brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...
, while geometric and epigraphic decoration are painted around the southern entrance doorway and around some of the windows. The door to the northern balcony overlooking the water is framed on the outside by a large, prominent, semi-circular
blind arch
A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a passageway, door or window.''A Dictionary of Architecture''; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966) T ...
highlighted with a
keystone motif. The
spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s of the arch are painted with
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
motifs, above which a narrow horizontal band is filled by an
Arabic inscription that includes the completion date of the building (1286
AH). All the painted decoration is executed in
ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
colours on a layer of
plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
that covers the outside and inside of the building. The interior chambers of the building have decoration consisting of painted lines that highlight the
groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...
ceilings,
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
carved and painted with
geometric patterns
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
around the windows and doors, and painted wood ceilings and door leaves.
File:Menara DSCF8320.jpg, View of the pavilion and its surrounding walled enclosure on the edge of the reservoir
File:Menara Garden (Marrakech, Moroc) 09.jpg, The inner garden enclosure around the pavilion
File:Menara pabellón. 14.jpg, The southern entrance to the pavilion
File:Menera (retouched).jpg, Painted decoration around the blind arch
A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a passageway, door or window.''A Dictionary of Architecture''; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966) T ...
way over the northern balcony
File:Menara pabellón. 08.jpg, Interior of the pavilion, with stucco decoration around a window
File:Menara pabellón. 10.jpg, Painted decoration around a vaulted ceiling
File:Menara pabellón. 06.jpg, Painted wood ceiling in the pavilion
See also
*
Buhaira Gardens
*
Landmarks of Marrakesh
References
{{Marrakesh
Buildings and structures completed in 1130
Islamic gardens
Gardens in Morocco
Buildings and structures in Marrakesh
Almohad architecture
'Alawi architecture
Cross country running venues