Musée de Marrakech (Dar Menebhi)

Overview

The Musée de Marrakech occupies the Dar Menebhi, a sumptuous turn-of-the-20th-century palace built for a royal minister and beautifully restored as a museum. Its spectacular central courtyard — roofed and dominated by a huge chandelier-like metal lamp — is worth the visit alone, and around it are galleries of Moroccan ceramics, jewellery, textiles, coins and contemporary art. Standing on Place Ben Youssef, it pairs perfectly with the madrasa and the Almoravid Koubba.

The palace was built around 1900 for Mehdi Menebhi, a defence minister under Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz, in the grand riad style of the era. After serving various uses it was restored by the Omar Benjelloun Foundation and opened as the Musée de Marrakech in 1997. The restoration preserved the mansion's painted cedar ceilings, carved stucco, zellij and its former hammam, so the building itself is a showcase of Moroccan palace craftsmanship.

The centrepiece is the great internal courtyard, which was covered over and now serves as the main exhibition space, lit and crowned by an enormous ornate metal lamp that has become the museum's signature image. Off this and through the surrounding rooms are displays drawn from Moroccan heritage — historic ceramics, Berber and urban jewellery, textiles and costume, coins, manuscripts and calligraphy — alongside a space for temporary and contemporary exhibitions.

Its location makes it especially convenient: it sits on Place Ben Youssef right beside the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and the Almoravid Koubba is a few steps away, so the three are usually combined and are sometimes offered on joint tickets. Add the nearby Maison de la Photographie and you have a compact, rewarding morning of monuments and museums in the northern medina.