The Medina

 
• The medina of Marrakech is the hub and heart of the historic city of Marrakech. Spanning a total area of ​​600 hectares, it is one of the largest medina in Morocco and most populous of North Africa. Its refinement and specificity urban direct result of the total virgin ground on which it was built in the eleventh century. Built around a military camp, the Qasr El Hajar, and a market, it was increased by a kasbah in the twelfth century to protect it from repeated Berber tribes of the Haouz fire, thus contributing to sustainable sit Almoravid hegemony. The famous walls of the old city of Marrakech underwent significant changes at the whim of dynasties. Thus they were to repeatedly drilled new doors (Bab in Arabic). Today the height of the walls varies between 8 and 10 meters and extend for a total distance exceeding 19 kilometers. The medina is on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 19853.

 
• The recent craze for riads, the traditional Moroccan houses built around a central courtyard, generated profound sociological changes in the medina of Marrakech, where the price per m2 peaked. Thus, a significant and growing number of smaller households marrakchis sees driven by speculation "exile" outside the walls. Moreover, a phenomenon of densification is observed habitat within the medina. However, it is far from witnessing a museumification of the medina, far from it. In fact, the growing success of tourism Marrakech medina permanently invigorated by attracting many young people in the maze of the medina. Thus it would seem that more than 40,000 craftsmen work, divided into different themed areas geographically organizing the medina.

• The Jewish quarter in the south east of Medina, was and remains today a lesser extent the Jewish quarter of Marrakech. Far from being a ghetto, the Jewish quarter consisted of some trades that over and when the history of Marrakech, became specialties of this community (the weaver was an example of this). It was founded in 1558 under the reign of Moulay Abdellah near the palace which allowed, as was the case in Fes for example, the Sultan of protecting information.

 
• The Agdal Gardens adjacent to the south the Royal Palace were created from 1156 as the official historian of the Almohad dynasty by El Haj Ya'is, the same one that was at the origin of the prestigious Koutoubia. The term "Agdal" meaning also "garden" in general by the Berbers, the description of the Agdal Gardens are established himself as exclusive label that towards the end of the eighteenth century. Its existence undermined by time is closely related to the astute management of water resources is made. Thus, the catchment groundwater was from the late eleventh century ensured by a dense network of "khettaras" assisted later by a more elaborate system of viaducts from Aghmat, a town further south towards the Ourika Valley. Finally, the storage of rain water was provided by two huge reservoirs, the largest, called Es Sala, served to train troops to swimming to cross the Strait of Gibraltar.