Maison de la Photographie

The Maison de la Photographie holds a private collection of some ten thousand photographs, glass plates, negatives and postcards of Morocco taken between about 1870 and 1950, assembled by a Moroccan and a French collector and shown across three floors of a restored riad. The material is the interest: early studio portraits, expedition photography, aerial views of medinas before they were built up, images of Amazigh communities in the Atlas and the south, and a good deal that documents crafts, dress and daily life at a period when almost nothing else was recording it. On the top floor is a screening of a 1957 colour documentary on the High Atlas by Daniel Chicault, one of the earliest colour films made in the mountains. The roof terrace has a cafe and gives one of the better free-ranging views over the medina roofs to the Atlas.

What you actually see

• Ten thousand images - photographs, plates and postcards from about 1870 to 1950.
• Medinas before rebuilding - aerial and street views of cities now much changed.
• A 1957 Atlas colour film - among the earliest colour documentaries of the mountains.
• A roof terrace - the medina and the Atlas from a cafe at the top of the riad.

When to go

October to April. An hour or two. Late afternoon for the terrace.

Honest expectations

It is a private museum and entry is charged. The building is small and the stairs are steep. Prints are for sale and the terrace cafe is priced accordingly. Labelling is brief.

Nearby

The Ben Youssef madrasa is south; the souks are beyond it.