Bahia Palace

The Bahia was built in stages from the 1860s to 1900 for two grand viziers, Si Musa and his son Ba Ahmed, and their households, and it grew by buying up neighbouring properties rather than to a single plan, which is why the rooms wander and the courtyards are all different sizes. What survives is the decoration: carved and painted cedar ceilings, stucco cut into lace, zellij tilework to shoulder height, and stained glass in the window frames. The great courtyard is a plain expanse of Italian marble with rooms opening off every side, while the small riad garden behind it is planted with orange, banana and cypress around a central fountain. The palace is unfurnished, so the effect is architectural rather than domestic, and the ceilings are the reason to look up constantly.

History

Si Musa, from a family of enslaved servants of the royal government who rose to its highest offices, was chamberlain and then grand vizier under Sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman, and he began the palace in the 1860s; the great riad garden and its rooms in the north date from his time, two of them inscribed 1866-1867. His son Ahmad ibn Musa, Ba Ahmed, who as grand vizier was the effective ruler of Morocco for the young sultan Abdelaziz from 1894 until his death in 1900, enlarged it piece by piece as neighbouring land came up for sale, adding most of the southern courtyards and gardens and the marble Grand Courtyard of 1896-1897, with the architect Muhammad ibn Makki al-Misfiwi of Safi. It grew to around 150 rooms on a single level, and its name, the Brilliant, was reportedly that of Ba Ahmed's favourite wife (Wikipedia, Bahia Palace).

Highlights

• The painted ceilings - cedar panels painted in floral patterns, different in every room.
• The great courtyard - a wide marble court ringed by galleries and reception rooms.
• The riad garden - orange and banana trees around a fountain, in deep shade.
• The zellij - geometric tile panels running around the walls of the main apartments.

When to go

Open daily with a break in some seasons; go at opening or in the last hour before closing, as tour groups fill it between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Spring and autumn are pleasant; the marble courtyard is glaring and hot in July and August. Allow more time than the ticket queue suggests.

Good to know

It is often crowded to the point that photographing a room without strangers in it is impossible, and groups stall in the doorways of the best ceilings. The rooms are empty of furniture and there is very little signage, so without a guide you are looking at decoration with no story attached. Some sections are periodically closed for restoration with no reduction in the ticket price.

Nearby

The Mellah, the Dar Si Said museum and El Badi Palace are all within a ten-minute walk.

Key facts