Morocco Guide
Marrakesh
The Marrakesh Museum
Opening time: Daily: April– Sept 9am–7pm; Oct– March 9am–6pm
Price: 40dh ticket includes entry to Almoravid Koubba, combined ticket with Ben Youssef Medersa 60dh
On the west side of Place de la Kissaria is the Marrakesh Museum, housed in a magnificent late-nineteenth-century palace, Dar Mnebbi. The palace was built for Mehdi Mnebbi, defence minister of Moulay Abdelziz (1894–1908), who later became Moroccan ambassador in London, before returning to live in Tangier, and selling his palace to T'hami el Glaoui, pasha of Marrakesh. With independence in 1956, the palace was taken over by the state but left in an increasing condition of neglect for many years.
In 1995, Omar Benjoullan, a patron of the arts, bought and restored the derelict building, and in March 1997 it opened as the Marrakesh Museum. It houses exhibitions of Moroccan art and sculpture, both traditional (in the main hall and surrounding rooms), and contemporary (in what were the palace kitchens). It is the restoration itself, however, that is most remarkable, especially in what was the hammam, and in the now-covered inner courtyard with its huge brass lamp hung above a central fountain. There's also a small café and bookshop in the entrance courtyard.