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After his victory against the Portuguese army in the famous battle of “the three kings” in 1578, Ahmed El Mansour Ed-Dahbi ordered the construction of the famous palace El Badiî, also called “the incomparable palace”. It’s a palace that attracted the attention of all the kings of that period, who were convinced that whome had that palace, had power; and whom lost it, lost power.

The building of the palace lasted more than 25 years, to finally be finished in 1603. The construction used the most expensive materials that were brought even from China. It consisted of more than 300 rooms, large private apartments, a courtyard of 135m by 110m and a pool of 90m by 20m, an underground tunnel used as a jail, etc. At the centre of the construction was a palace dedicated to official meetings.

In one of the pavilions, one finds a fabulous Minbar (a preaching chair) made of cedar, ivory, silver and many rare woods. The Minbar alone needed 8 years of continuous work.

The walls and ceilings were covered with gold, marble, stones, crystals and mosaics. The great amount of money needed to build the palace was covered from the ransoms collected to release the Portuguese prisoners captured after the aforementioned battle of the three kings.

The current view that one can have of the palace is that of remnants, with large gardens planted with oranges trees, surrounded with high walls on which storks nest. The terrace offers thus a fabulous panoramic view of the central tower.

Every year, in June, El Badiî palace gathers artists from all over the world, for the concerts of the sacred music festival of Marrakech.

El Badiî palace is open daily from 8:45 am to 12:45 pm and from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm. The entry costs 10 Dirhams to visit the palace only and 20 Dirhams when the Minbar is included.