The Saadian Tombs

The Saadian sultans of the sixteenth century were buried in a garden enclosure next to the kasbah mosque, and after the dynasty fell the site was walled off and largely forgotten until it was surveyed and opened again in 1917. The enclosure is small, a few chambers and a garden of low graves covered in tilework, but the main room, usually called the hall of twelve columns, is one of the finest interiors in Morocco: Carrara marble columns, a carved cedar dome, and stucco worked to the point of appearing woven. You look into it from a doorway rather than walking through, which controls the queue but also means the view is over the shoulders of whoever is in front. The rest is open garden with graves of children and household members set in mosaic panels.

History

The necropolis lies behind the qibla wall of the Kasbah Mosque built by the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur in the late 12th century; the Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan was buried here for a few months in 1351, his tombstone still in the Chamber of the Three Niches, and the Hintati emirs of Marrakesh were buried here from the mid-15th century to the 1520s. The Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib built the first, eastern mausoleum between 1557 and 1574 for his father Muhammad al-Shaykh and was buried beside him in 1574; Ahmad al-Mansur enlarged it and then, between 1591 and 1598, began the western building with its hall of twelve columns, where he was buried in 1603. Moulay Ismail later sealed the necropolis off from the buildings around it, and in 1917 Morocco's fine arts and monuments service rediscovered it, in severe disrepair, and began a careful restoration (Wikipedia, Saadian Tombs).

Highlights

• The hall of twelve columns - marble columns under a carved cedar cupola, viewed from the door.
• The garden graves - low tiled tombs of family and household set among plants.
• The mihrab chamber - a second, quieter room with fine stucco and a tiled prayer niche.
• The narrow entry passage - the long slot cut through the wall that gives the only access.

When to go

Go at opening time. This is a small site with a single choke point at the best room, and by mid-morning the queue for that doorway can be twenty minutes for a thirty-second look. Spring and autumn are comfortable; the garden gives some shade but the queue does not.

Good to know

The site is genuinely small and the queueing is out of proportion to the time you get in front of the main chamber. Groups block the passage in both directions. Photographs of the famous room are almost always taken over a crowd. If you have limited time in Marrakech and dislike bottlenecks, this is the one to skip.

Nearby

El Badi Palace and the kasbah quarter are next door; the Bahia Palace is ten minutes north.

Key facts