Jardin Majorelle-Marrakech | Eclectic Garden in the Pearl of Morocco.

Jardin Majorelle is undoubtedly a relevant and superb attraction of Marrakech, a very eclectic garden in the pearl of Morocco, one of the most captivating and appealing cities in the world packed by charming mysteries, suggestive surprises, appealing narrow streets, colourful souks, highlighted by a divine art with unique architectural masterpieces and certainly that emblematic fascinating gardened space developed on a surface area of over 8,000 square kilometres called by the Berbers urti majuril since its inception increased furthermore with another marvel the fascination of that more than stunning North African centre.

 Situated in a scenic palm grove on the edge of a huge environment corresponding to the Ivernage district, a renowned leisure quarter  arose in contemporary times not far from the famous beautiful Menara Gardens, one of the most attractive urban green lungs at the junction of the famed and always busy Avenue Hassan II and the long and bustling Boulevard Mohamed VI  that modern agglomeration lies in the immediate outskirts of the core of that superb Imperial city founded in 1062 by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, first iconic leader of the Lamtuna Berbers, one of the oldest tribes of the Moroccan Sahara.

That area is well known because it was the most relevant expansions of the new urban setting outside the Medina and the Kasbah since the times of the French Protectorate in Morocco started in 1912 becoming a large residential borough mainly inhabited by citizens from France and year by year by year a good number of expatriates who decided to fix their residences in the fabulous, old Mur Akush, the Land of God as the first Amazigh settlers called that land.

Cradle of the distinctive Almoravid dynasty which made the fortune of one of the most relevant centres of the Maghreb during a visit in the city's heart you will immediately breathe the magic atmosphere of an ancient reality which never changed or almost during its long shining history and Jardin Majorelle was created as a sort of additional jewel to enrich an immense treasure scattered all around its boundaries.

 

That authentic masterpiece you can admire nowadays receiving over 600,000 of visitors a year located in that pretty modern but at the same time charming area was created between the 20's and 30's and its name is from its founder, Jacques Majorelle, a French expatriate talented painter who settled in Marrakech since 1919.

Son of the famous Louis Majorelle, a prominent Art Nouveau Master from Nancy apart his main profession that man was a declared lover of botanical gardens and everything linked to all the themes closely related to flowers, plants, landscaping arrangements decided after different stays and holidays spent in the Maghreb bewitched by the fascinating, charismatic and enchanting Marrakech to buy a land in that city to create that magnificent complex you can see nowadays consisting in a beautiful scenic villa entirely surrounded by a lush garden.
  

That centre with its incomparable beauty immediately entered in the heart of that French artist who greatly absorbed the spirit, culture and history of that heaven at the foothills of the Atlas mountains as something which was part of him. 

He totally embraced in a sort of everlasting love the coloured Medina, the eternally bustling and animated Kasbah which became his home as all what there was around those enchanting places present in the major northwestern municipality of the Moroccan  Kingdom bewitched him.

That spectacular mansion whose enormous scenic dome is highly visible at distance encircled by a spectacular gardened masterpiece created with the most exotic plants was certainly fruit of a great inspiration which  today is  one of the favourite destinations for a multitude of tourists who do not want to miss that superb attraction, mandatory next to that large number of other scattered wonders in the most beautiful city of Morocco.

That man was able as for magic to create a composition of arrangements thanks to his solid skills and knowledge related to the finest modern art closely linked to Art Deco and Liberty architecture matching the Moorish and Andalusian Mudejar styles.

Something of extraordinary and absolutely stunning considering the total diversity of those artistic movements for culture, concepts, ideas, design, lines, elements and much more adding to all that a garden which had to be organised around a building with all those special, different features with the risk to create something of bizarre and not appreciated.

Majorelle desired all that since then when he established his residence in the Red City as it is nicknamed Marrakech for that predominant tonality which characterises many points of that centre linking the realities of two worlds completely diverse for architectural canons.

That project at the beginning for some people close to that artist appeared as an impossible mission with a veiled pessimism about the final results of that work.

 Despite that the dream of the man was more alive than ever because his desire to combine something embracing his French and European artistic culture to the pure Moorish style extremely loved by him was in addition a sort of challenge highlighted by several studies, tests, efforts becoming later a magnificent reality. 

Nothing easy considering that those styles are so far from each other and notable are the difficulties to join all that with also the natural environment, a relevant detail to take in high consideration because it plays an important role in a start-up trying to insert in an exotic setting an extremely eclectic building which was designed by the architect Paul Sinoir. 

Naturally a successful execution could be made by someone with an innate talent boasting a wide vision of spaces, layouts, outlines with a notable experience including in landscaping operations. 

Definitely a work for genius minds considering furthermore the hard work to assemble decorative details with a high sense of geometry closely linked to the local culture next to the use of determined materials of construction used in the Maghreb during centuries and centuries.

Majorelle started to arrange his house as a space to work studying carefully everything including the smallest details with the desire to develop around his residence a beautiful and ample garden filling the entire setting with plants, trees, paths and courtyards.


During a deep analysis of the local environment protagonist of several experiments the artist took inspiration from the memories of his childhood linked to several trips he enjoyed with the family to the French Riviera where in Cannes, Antibes, Nice and St. Trophez saw that fantastic image consisting in those stunning Mediterranean gardens scattered in many urban corners of those beautiful places next to superb architectural masterpieces.

Those sites which impressed that genius in his young age were often compared to the locals, dates very useful for the artist  to invent all that you can admire today who spent hours and hours walking and strolling the narrow streets and alleys of the intriguing Kasbah which is a mine of architectural treasures and the scenic labyrinth of the Medina with also the presence of enchanting buildings such as Jamaa El Fna, Jamaa Kotoubia, El Badi Palace which represent part of the immense local artistic patrimony.

Those continuous and perpetual daily views undoubtedly supported the project of Majorelle who also loved to stay long time close to the Babs, the old historic gates of Marrakech highlighted by their ancient charming decorations contemplating in the meantime those imposing walls flanked by magnificent gardens with the scenic image of the vegetation covering the Atlas Mountains as background. 

The artist frequently stayed for many hours trying to find something similar about colours, contrasts and detailed features between the local corners and those of the renowned Côte d' Azur including often visiting to search something of further special Agdal Gardens, that immense gardened surface of over 4, 0 square kilometres south of the Medina and Dar El Makhzen, the Royal Palace, developed in the 12th century by Abdelmoumen El Goumi, first Almohad Caliph and descendant of the ancient Iznaten Berber tribe enlarged by the Saadi Dynasty since the 16th century and well known for its irrigation system.

That place was for its history and image next to the Menara Gardens and the Medina declared in 1985 by UNESCO a World Heritage site another very inspiring environment for Majorelle closely linked to his studies and projects becoming one of his favourite destinations.  

One of the main reasons was because there he could see a large variety of plants such as lemon, fig, orange and apricot trees with also many palms of different size planted close to an imposing walled perimeter.

All those sites with different detailed features were as a sort of sum with results to try different kinds of experiments linking art, architecture and nature, all those elements had a strong visual impact for that character totally fascinated by all the magic charm of an ancient culture with a superb historic past characterised by wonderful architectural marvels perfectly combined with a lush vegetation and that was the source matching his eclectic talent always searching something of extremely creative and unique in its kind.

That big variety of colours, lights and exotic corners were probably in all their essence the right ingredients to mix in a perfect cocktail of art simply perfect for the sublimation of his ideas and dreams joining the local architecture with European lines with the nature protagonist next to them, a sort of mission to fulfil with the aim to create something generating a strong aesthetic impact at first sight..

All that was for him a sort of constant full immersion of study and attempts to find always something of new  constantly present in his mind comparing materials, colours, spaces and perspectives with the others he faced in his past.

Majorelle as very keen, eclectic painter was well known for his continuous research reflected in his paintings with cycles of new executions never standardised and result of a deep imagination, an aspect which certainly helped him to reach his goal with extreme determination.

The philosophy and concepts of that artist were focused to invent something of great, including unusual and surprising, for that he started to place decorated painted tiles, a detail strongly rooted in the Moorish art placed in perfect and harmonious layouts loyal to the high sense of geometry in common with the traditional Arab canons with a choice of plants of different provenance the man placed in different corners of the ample garden trying to find including in the smallest sections scenic successful combinations.

During his operations Majorelle was always focused to find a sort of happy marriage between all the elements, a work which was for him a personal daily challenging stage which highlighted his artistic life.

The man apart all that was totally fascinated by the several peculiarities, curiosities and marked contrasts present in that fascinating place trying to match all what he saw there with the Catalan Modernism, Andalusian Mudejar and French Art Deco. 

All that was probably another aspect which supported the deepest sources of inspirations of a superb start-up to create using different kinds of materials, varied execution of determined lines in strategic points of his beloved  haven creating something of absolutely special, sensational and unique in its kind.

He decided to arrange  the house with marked Moorish architectural and decorative details highlighting his creation with some of the most distinctive elements, he designed the grounds with zellij, those typically Moroccan tileworks set into plaster used to ornament floors, walls ceiling, fountains covered with enamel using in his execution green, red and blue tonalities, distinctive details often present in the Mudejar Style with the latter which will be known since 1937 as blue Majorelle.

The same colours were also used in the interior whose decoration apparent reference to the traditional Moroccan art while the European architectural inspirations as combination of lines and spaces largely came from the fine style used by Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris well known as Le Corbusier, that famous Swiss-French architect, designer and painter  considered one of the clearest exponents of the modern movements in architecture.

The figure played an important role in the European inspirations of Majorelle because that artist from La-Chaux-des-Fonds was an eminent Master in the decorative and ornamental Art Nouveau, a character who was among the most acclaimed for his studies of colours and materials to adapt to specific shapes of determined building. 

That genius was well known furthermore for his numerous experiments which were pioneers in many draws and designs trying to combine modern art to Byzantine but also Gothic architectural elements in diversified natural environments.

The villa took a sort of Moorish Art Deco aspect but pretty peculiar because the artist also added later many Liberty details which are part of a specific ample and diversified artistic niche.

The mansion consists in a main body arranged with a large artist's studio on the ground floor which became the laboratory of Majorelle to paint new inspirations which originally before its establishment was used as a kind of refuge to develop in a peaceful environment all what of beautiful his eyes saw studying with tests what he managed in the execution of his masterpiece.

Later he decided to build a new modern workshop determined to create a new decorative art inspired by the local traditions with protagonist handicraft and that new space started to produce fine leather goods, beautiful artistic objects and also superb painted wooden furniture. 

Some items which decorated the house were presented in the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925 and furthermore others were used to decorate the prestigious local Hotel La Mamounia in which the artist also painted the ceiling of some rooms.

The environment is  highlighted by a large central space with several rooms set with around it lush hundreds of nesting birds.

That garden previously its final inception was for long time a private place of meditation and creations frequented used day and night with numerous experiments in the layout, checking perspectives, moving trees and flowers from a place to another in a day, including that man changed several times positions of, small flowerbeds, trees and edged with box.

On its surface was established a varied composition of different and  a rare mix of  species of exotic plants including cactus, palms, coconuts, jasmine, lilies, bamboo, others coming from five continents were placed in strategic square and circular spaces while further corners were adorned by Moorish-Andalusian details such as water jets, tiles, ceramic jugs, fountains with patios and zellij  decorations.

Some months later that gardened masterpiece was enriched by the addition of aquatic plants and giant mushrooms with a final result really impressive also because that fascinating natural space was completed with over 1800 species of different flowers and the stunning presence of 400 varieties of palm trees. 

In addition that magnificent place became home of 15 species of birds which can be found only in the area of North Africa and also that aspect related to fauna become a great additional attraction.

That eclectic wonder was maintained by a team of gardeners becoming soon a famous tourist destination among the most attractive in Marrakech and in 1947 it was opened to the public.

During the visit you will notice from every perspective that all appears as something of simply magic, the spaces are perfectly filled combining patios containing different kinds of flowers, other courtyards were greatly assembled in complete harmony with water sections, adorned gardened corners, walls covered by high palm trees with a great choice of various and specific plants to embellish concrete points.

All what you can admire in that site is the imprint of a sumptuous work created by a clever mind with protagonist the hand of a superb landscaper because everything is arranged to surprise at first sight the visitor developed so well which appears as a magnificent mosaic of gardening and architecture.

All around you the environment seems as painted and nothing bizarre at all, from different points you will delighted by a stupendous harmony including with a very balanced choice of combinations of colours.

That versatile and eclectic man after that wonderful masterpiece gradually became one of the most prominent artists of the city continuing to cultivate his great passion, painting and his fame reached Paris where he was called and nicknamed the Painter of Marrakech.

In 1955 after eight years of its opening to the public, the complex was re- arranged with a territorial separation of the exotic garden of three hectares surrounding the artist workshop from a vast area which was subdivided in determined sections and some of them were sold.

Majorelle repatriated to Paris after a femur fracture due to a terrible car accident and he died in 1962 but the garden remained opened despite it suffered several damages and deterioration. 

Despite that sad event the site already reached a relevant International fame and prestige and it was not a case that Yves Saint Laurent, unforgettable and celebrated French fashion designer very fond of all what is related to aesthetic and alternative applied arts,  lover of the finest artistic expressions executed by the pure human talent was attracted by that eclectic garden established in the pearl of Morocco.

Bewitched by that wonder and declared fan of that artist, Saint Laurent in partnership with his  friend Pierre Bergé decided to buy that magnificent place in 1980 and they founded an Association to preserve that marvel which had to continue to be patrimony of Marrakech.

That established foundation was called Association pour la Sauvegarde du Jardin Majorelle focused to conserve the image of something which entered in the history and for many people elevated as a myth found in France and Europe several followers with a notable resonance.

That relevant Institution started to finance a great restoration of the house re-arranging in addition some sections of the garden fell in decay, worth a special mention that all those operations were managed respecting totally the spirit of the author with the authenticity of the site increasing furthermore the number of species of plants and flowers added to embellish a setting  absolutely outstanding.  

Those two notorious characters preserved the mansion for private use transforming the workshop in the current Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech which was opened to the public suitable in addition to expose their personal collections of art.

That exhibition is situated in the original studio of the French painter and it displays all the most important artistic items owned by those illustrious men consisting in relevant objects coming from the Maghreb, Middle East, rest of Africa and Asia. 

Many items related to jewelry, textiles, weapons, carpets, ceramics, woodwork, pottery, ceramics and artistic handcrafts are part of that splendid gallery of art while a special space was reserved for works in honour of the creator of that wonderful complex; Jacques Majorelle. 

Yves Saint Laurent about that superb idyllic site said: "For many years, I found in Majorelle Garden a source of inspiration and I often dreamt of colours that are unique”. Those words by that famed figure can transmit everybody what is that garden and one thing is certain around it there is a magic aura which could give inspire every visitor.

The house had some further restorations and it was re named Villa Oasis while the gardens conserved its original name keeping the splendour of the past, both never lost that distinguished charm which elevated that stupendous complex as a shining attraction of that superb city.

Since 1st June 2008 the ashes of Yves Saint Laurent are dispersed in the rose garden of the mansion and in the garden was placed a memorial consisting in a Roman column coming from Tangier with a plaque depicting the name of the fashion designer.

On 27th November 2010, the Princess Lalla Salma, wife of King Mohamed VI inaugurated the Exhibtion called Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco and the former street on which lies the complex was called Rue Yves Saint Laurent.

The Musée Berbère, the Berber Museum was a further additional attraction added on 3rd December 2011 in presence of the the former French Minister of Culture and Communication Frédéric Mitterand and the house where the designer lived was awarded with the title "Maison des Illustres" to pay homage to the illustrious designer who owned that site.

I added below some links, useful to know much more the great history and beauty of that marvellous site you can not miss if your planning to visit Marrakech in future.

Today Jardin Majorelle is still that sublime, enchanting creation of nature and art, divine inspiration of a magnificent artist. 

All that was created and greatly conserved is located in a captivating scenery which could be considered one of the most attractive gardens in the world because in its kind it has not equals. 

It is so difficult to emulate in a hypothetical replica that wonder and in the case of a possible attempt by someone it could not not be the same because that stunning creation is absolutely inimitable.

The sensations during a visit of that place will be that you are facing a little corner of Paradise in that marvellous city of Maghreb at the foot of the picturesque and unforgettable frame of the Atlas mountains, a must and worth a visit without hesitations discovering and enjoying it metre by metre.

That city is so magic and special in all its essence thanks to places highly fascinating like that eclectic Garden called Jardin Majorelle established in the pearl of Morocco always ready to open its doors delighting every visitor.

Francesco Mari

Useful Links

www.jardinmajorelle.com
www.fondation-pb-ysl.net
www.visitmorocco.com