Menara Gardens 🇲🇦

Situated just west of the historic city walls of Marrakesh, near the Menara Airport, the Menara Gardens are a historic public garden and olive orchard. Established in the twelfth century, around 1157, by the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min, the grounds were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 alongside the Agdal Gardens and the historic walled city. The estate spans a quadrilateral layout measuring roughly 1,200 meters in length and between 720 and 800 meters in width.

The centerpiece of the site is a rectangular water basin measuring 195 meters long by 160 meters wide. Adjacent to this reservoir stands a two-story stone pleasure pavilion, or menzeh, topped by a green-tiled pyramidal roof. The image of the pavilion set against the water with the High Atlas Mountains rising to the south is considered an iconic symbol of Marrakesh. The name Menara, recorded in historical documents starting in 1579, translates to terms such as minaret, lantern, or lighthouse, likely referring either to the elevated pavilion or to the minaret of the Kutubiyya Mosque to the northeast.

Designed primarily for agricultural production rather than simple recreation, the orchard consists largely of olive trees planted in a regular ten-meter grid, along with fruit trees and cypresses. The estate is supplied with water through an ancient system of underground channels called khettaras, which convey water from the phreatic table of the High Atlas Mountains. Because the reservoir is constructed above ground level, stored water flows into the lower surrounding groves using gravity. A small ornamental octagonal basin and former fountain sit near the base of the stairs leading to the reservoir walkway.

Historical records indicate the estate was likely designed by Hajj al-Ya'ish, an engineer from Malaga. After experiencing decline following the Almohad period, the gardens were restored by the Saadian dynasty, who added the first pleasure pavilion. The grounds reached their modern form through restorations by Alaouite sultans Moulay Abd ar-Rahman and his son Muhammad IV in the nineteenth century. Sultan Muhammad IV rebuilt the present pavilion over the Saadian ruins, completing it in 1870 as noted by an inscription on the upper balcony arch.

The stone pavilion features a functional ground floor with a three-arched portico opening toward the basin, while the upper floor contains a large square room leading to a northern balcony. Decorated in ochre tones over plaster, the exterior includes painted mock brickwork and geometric and epigraphic detailing. Historically, the broader estate included a secondary basin named Sahrij al-Bgar and was used to raise ostriches into the early twentieth century.

Menara Gardens in pictures