Morocco Guide
Marrakesh
The Bahia
Opening time: Sat– Thurs 8.45–11.45am & 2.45–5.45pm, Fri 8.45–11.30am & 3–5.45pm
Price: 10dh
Address: At the southern end of Rue Riad Zitoun el Djedid, north of the Mellah
By far the most ambitious and costly of the mansions north of the Mellah was the Bahia Palace, originally built in 1866–7 for Si Moussa, a former slave who had risen to become grand vizier.
Visitors enter the palace from the west, through an arcaded courtyard which leads to a small riad (enclosed garden), part of Bou Ahmed's extension. The riad is decorated with beautiful carved stucco and cedarwood, and salons lead off it on three sides. The eastern salon leads through to the council room, and thence through a vestibule – where it's worth pausing to look up at the lovely painted ceiling – to the great courtyard of Si Moussa's original palace. The rooms surrounding the courtyard are also all worth checking out for their painted wooden ceilings.
South of the great courtyard is the large riad, the heart of Si Moussa's palace, fragrant with fruit trees and melodious with birdsong, approaching the very ideal of beauty in Arabic domestic architecture. To its east and west are halls decorated with fine zellij fireplaces and painted wooden ceilings. From here, you leave the palace via the private apartment built in 1898 for Ahmed's wife, Lalla Zinab, where again you should look up to check out the painted ceiling, carved stucco, and stained-glass windows.