The Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech is a 1 hectare botanical and artist’s landscape garden. It was created in 1923 by the French Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle. The Cubist Villa was designed by French architect Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. The artist and his wife lived there from 1923 until the 1950s.
Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge bought the property in the 1980s and worked to restore it. Today the garden and Villa complex is open to the public. The Villa houses the Berber Museum and in 2017 the Yves Saint-Laurent Museum opened nearby. Photos were not allowed in either museum.
Majorelle used a special bold cobalt blue extensively in the garden and the buildings. The colour is named after him, Majorelle Blue, and he patented the colour prior to his death.
The memorial to Yves Saint-Laurent
Le Jardin Secret is in the centre of Marrakech. It began in the second half of the 16th century, when the Saadian Sultan Moulay ‘Abd-Allah commenced the urbanisation of what is now the Mouassine district. The original palace was destroyed about a hundred years later. A long and messy history followed and the property fell into disrepair in 1934.
In 2008 the idea of restoring the building complex began and Le Jardin Secret came into being 8 years later. It is actually 2 gardens side by side. The garden is a cool respite from the Marrakech heat.
The trunk of this tree is covered in spikes…no doubt discouraging climbing.
I love wandering in gardens. I know just how much work is involved in creating and maintaining a garden and I am inspired by the beautiful results.