The history of Morocco’s medinas and of Marrakech: neighbourhoods, courtyard houses, fondouks, holy sites, World Heritage and the rules that protect it.
Feature
It was the night of 8 September 2023. In a matter of seconds, the ground shook from the High Atlas to the alleyways of Marrakech. Minarets swayed, sections of the ramparts came down, century-old houses split open like books. Three years on, the medina is still clad in scaffolding. It is also home to restoration work that is moving forward.
A medina is not so much visited as crossed. You enter through a gate, lose your way, and come out changed. Morocco has dozens of them. Six have received the highest heritage recognition in the world. Here is why each one is worth the journey, in the order in which we suggest discovering them.
From the alley, you see nothing. A blank wall, a studded door, sometimes a knocker shaped like a hand. Then the door opens, a dog-leg passage steers you aside, and the house reveals itself all at once: a courtyard, sky, often water. But does that courtyard hold a garden? That is the whole difference between a riad and a dar.
