El Badi Palace, located in the southern part of Marrakech, is one of the city's landmarks. It was erected in 1578 on the orders of King Ahmed al-Mansour. A little earlier, Ahmed al-Mansour's army had defeated the armies of Portugal and forced them to pay a large tribute. It was this money that was used to build the palace with the proud name of "The Incomparable".
The palace was built almost 25 years. For its construction were invited the best masters of Andalusia and Catalonia, and used the most exquisite building materials of the time: Irish granite, Italian marble and multicoloured onyx, delivered India. The ceiling and walls of the building were decorated with beautiful gilding.
However, the palace could not enjoy its fabulous beauty for more than a century. After the Alawites came to power, they moved the capital to Meknes, and left Marrakech in provincial neglect for many centuries. Sometime later, Sultan Moulay Ismail ordered the destruction of the palace. It was demolished for a full 10 years, which once again testifies to the size and opulence of the palace. The marble and gold taken to Meknes was used as decoration for the newly built Alawite residence.
Today, one can only see the walls of the inner courtyard and take a stroll through the magnificent orange orchard. Even in its ruined state, the palace looks extraordinarily beautiful. The most amazing part of the architecture is the courtyard, which shows all the wealth of its owners. The palace courtyard was the largest in Marrakech as it measures about 15 thousand square metres. The courtyard was so huge that all the buildings surrounding it seem very narrow.
El Badi Palace had 360 rooms on different floors, including a large network of underground tunnels. Also in the palace, a huge swimming pool of about 2,000 square metres was made between two tall pavilions. Each of the pavilions is surrounded by two more smaller pools. There are now beautiful orange trees growing in the places where the pools used to be.
