Musée de Marrakech

The Musée de Marrakech is housed in the Mnebhi Palace, a late nineteenth-century riad near the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and the building announces itself immediately: the central courtyard, one of the largest in any Marrakech riad, is lit by an enormous spherical chandelier of hammered metal that hangs from the carved cedar ceiling above the central basin. The effect on entry is one of controlled drama, and the courtyard is used as an exhibition space for temporary shows that take advantage of its dimensions. The permanent collection occupies the surrounding rooms and galleries, presenting Moroccan arts and crafts across a range of materials and periods: coins from different dynasties, ceramics from Fez and Safi, embroidered textiles, Berber jewelry and carpets, calligraphy, and works on paper. The presentation varies in quality from room to room, some galleries approaching the careful contextualization of an international institution, others arranged more simply. The museum also maintains the historic hammam of the palace as a functioning exhibit, and a small bookshop near the entrance holds publications on Moroccan history and visual culture. What the Musée de Marrakech offers, beyond its collection, is one of the finest palace interiors in the Medina at a level of accessibility that few comparable buildings provide. The museum's historic hammam, preserved as an exhibit within the palace, gives a clear sense of how water was incorporated into Moroccan domestic space: the tiled basins, the cedar-screened dressing rooms, and the progression from cool to hot chambers.