Gardens of Marrakesh

Nicknamed ‘ the rose among the palms’ , the thousand-year-old city of Marrakesh is characterised by its pink-coloured pisé architecture and its deeply rooted tradition for gardens and green spaces.
The majority of historic sites are inextricable from their gardens – or indeed are historic green spaces: the huge royal orchard pleasure-gardens of the Agdal were described by Monty Don as ‘ of international cultural importance on a par with Versailles or Villa d’ Este’ .
Scores of traditional riads and hotels like the Mamounia, created by the French in 1923 on the site of an eighteenth-century royal residence, offer splendid gardens to the visitor. Yves Saint Laurent’ s Majorelle garden is an icon of modern garden design.
The first book to be published on this fascinating subject, Gardens of Marrakesh champions the city’ s relevance today in a world of water scarcity and urban development and explores its green heritage, considering some twenty gardens both from an historic and cultural perspective.