Majorelle Gardens, Marrakesh

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Majorelle garden is the one and only tourist sight in the Ville Nouvelle and completely different from the others in Marrakech. We visited the garden early December and there were not too many visitors. I did read several reviews saying the garden can be overcrowded; no wonder because the walks are rather narrow and the garden itself is not that huge at all.

Majorelle Garden is situated around the former studio of the founder - French painter Jacques Majorelle - and is a mixture of bamboo, palm trees, agave and cactuses. It is said there should be hundreds of species of palms and more than 1500 hundred cactuses. These abundant green plants are alternated with colourful bougainvilleas and other tropical flowers. Most charming are the fountains and ponds with water lilies.
Pots do have bright green, yellow and blue colours, paths are often made of red tiles and the ponds do have green and blue tiles.
This symphony of colours is a really feast for the eye. Find a (shaded) bench and just enjoy the plants and colours, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city life of Marrakech.

There is a (small) Museum of Islamic Arts in the former blue coloured studio of Majorelle, which shows ceramics, carpets, furniture, jewellery, beautifully carved doors and (of course) some of Majorelle’s paintings.

The garden has a nice café with a secluded terrace for a rather expensive drink or lunch. Behind the museum is a shop with some very interesting and original gifts; among them paint drums with the original ‘Majorelle Blue’.

Opening hours:
October to May 8.00 am - 5.00pm / June to September 8.00am- 6.00pm
Admission:
Garden 30 Dirhams / Museum 15 Dirham

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Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) moved to Marrakesh from France to work on his paintings. He also set about turning his land into these landscaped gardens, opening to the public in 1947. The vivid blue colour that covers the buildings and garden accessories was first used in the early 1930's and is known as Bleu Majorelle. (I think this is my favourite colour)

Following the death of Majorelle, the property was famously bought by Yves St Laurent.

Majorelles former painting studio now houses the Museum of Islamic Art (I didn't have time to view this, but intended to return later, afraid I didn't though!)

The gardens provide a peaceful refuge from the bustle of Marrakesh. Cactii, bamboo and colourful flowers line the pathways that wind around the gardens, amongst the plants are colourful pots and decorative teracotta jars.Ornate Pavillions add to the attractiveness of the gardens, and provide cooling shelter. Fountains and fish ponds provide interest, while the trickling waters provide relaxing sounds.

There's a gift shop that sells quality items of pottery, guide books, perfumes exclusive to the Majorelle gardens and clothing. Expensive, but different!

Open 0800-1200, 1300 -1700 Winter
0800 - 1200, 1400 - 1900 Summer
No picnics!

- I wish they'd ban mobile phones from here too, as my peaceful wanderings were interrupted by one womans incessant loud ring tone, then a long noisy conversation.

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Cacti, cacti, bus loads of tourists and more busloads of tourists. To get away from the crowds, visit the Museum of islamic Arts - the collection by Yves St Laurent is fantastic - amazing textiles and jewelry. The only downer is that the building is nothing but a shell - I would have like to see the layout of the house (unfortunately many of the other art deco house in the Ville Nouvelle are being razed and replaced with McMansions)

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Great place to escape hustling and bustling life of Medina.
The gardens although full of tourists are quiet oasis, where you can actually enjoy African heat in August.

Be aware of the petit taxi drivers outside of the garden. They will try to make you pay twice as much for the ride back to your hotel. Be firm and say your price, they will gave up after a while.

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The Jardin Majorelle is a perfect place to spend a few hours, if you have enough of the busy souqs and streets for a while. The garden is a lovely, shady and intimate place, but don't think you will be the only visitor. I was in 1975, but nowadays it can be very crowded at most times of the day.

After passing the gate you enter a lovely and colourful inner court (picture 1). Turning to the right you make first a nice walk between the cactuses and will see soon the pound with aquatic plants like waterlillies (picture 3) in front of the blue Majorelle Villa. In other parts of the garden you walk between the many species of palms (picture 4) and the bamboos (picture 2).

Everyhwere in the garden you will find colourful pots with flowering plants (picture 1, 2, 3 & 5) in perfect harmony with their environment. There are benches for a little rest in the shade (picture 5).

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In the Majorelle garden you will find lots of colourfully tropical flowers and trees like bougainvillaea, waterlillies, hibiscus, yucca, bamboo, 400 species of palmtrees.

A very special part of the garden is the one where all the cactuses are. I red in the guidebook there are 1800 different species of cactuses in this garden, too many to see and count them all. Usually cactuses are not my favourites, but the setting here is wonderful. By the contrast of the green cactuses with the rosa ground around you can see and distinguish very well every single cactus. (picture 1, 2 & 5).

In the total ambiance of the exotic Majorelle garden the cactuses are in perfect harmony with the bright blue and turquoise coloured villa (picture 3) and other blue ornaments in the garden (picture 4).

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The designer of the Majorelle garden, painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962), lived and worked in Marrakech from 1922 to 1962. The striking blue coloured Majorelle villa in the garden, designed in 1931 by the architect Paul Sinoir, was originally the studio of the painter. Since the 80s the builiding houses the Museum of Islamic Arts.

In this museum you can find Fassi ceramics, pottery, jewelry, textiles and carpets from the Maghreb and Orient from the private collections of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent.

In the museum are also about 40 engravings, made by Jacques Majorelle, depicting villages and kashbas in the Atlas.

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My first time in Marrakech in 1975 I visited the Majorelle Garden, going there by calèche from the Djemaa el Fna. The memory I had of the garden was the abundant green of bamboo, palmtrees and other tropical trees and plants after coming to Marrkech from my dusty trip in the desert.

After I saw the colourful pictures of the nowadays gardens, I wanted to come back and so I did in 2007. It was a rather short walk from my hotel nearby in the Ville Nouvelle. The explosion of colours I encountered in the garden was more than I ever expected. The purple of the bougainvillaea in combination with the deep blue colour of the villa and the other bright colours like yellow and turquoise were beyond any imagination.

I learned that after my first visit Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, admiring the Majorelle garden, repurchased the garden, founded the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Trust for restoration and maintenance of this important inheritance of Jaques Majorelle, the original designer of the gardens.