Marrakech holds two art histories at once: seven centuries of zellij tilework, carved cedar and Saadian marble in the Medina, and a modernist chapter written by Majorelle, Saint Laurent and a new Moroccan gallery scene. This guide walks both.
Morocco's largest Quranic college, founded in the 14th century and rebuilt in 1564 by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib. The courtyard is a masterclass in zellij mosaic, carved cedar and Kufic stucco. Open 09:00–18:00 daily; 50 MAD.
A late-19th-century palace built for Mehdi Menebhi, defence minister to Sultan Abdelaziz, converted in 1997 by the Omar Benjelloun Foundation. Ceramics, coins, Hebrew manuscripts and contemporary Moroccan painting under a vast brass chandelier. 09:00–18:30; 60 MAD.
Studio KO's 2017 building in terracotta brick laid like fabric weave, housing 50 haute-couture looks rotated from the 5,000-piece archive, plus a research library and auditorium. Closed Wednesdays; 100 MAD, or 200 MAD combined with the Jardin Majorelle.
Hicham Daoudi's gallery in a restored 1930s Art Deco mining-company office on Rue de Yougoslavie, showing contemporary Moroccan artists across three floors. Free entry, Tuesday–Saturday roughly 10:00–19:00, with regular vernissages.
Jacques Majorelle's cobalt-blue painter's studio now holds 600 Amazigh objects from the Rif to the Sahara — silver fibulae, wedding capes, carpets and a mirrored jewellery room. Garden 08:00–18:00; garden plus museum around 190 MAD.
A three-storey café on the spice-and-apothecary square, with a roof terrace over the basket sellers and herbalists. Salads, msemen and mint tea for 40–90 MAD, and one of the few places in the souk where you can sit without pressure to buy.
Patrick Manac'h and Hamid Mergani's collection of some 10,000 Moroccan photographs from 1870 to 1950, hung across a restored fondouk near Ben Youssef, including the first colour documentary shot in the High Atlas. 09:30–19:00; 60 MAD.
The Medina's only true arts foundation, in a former stork hospital opposite the madrasa. Free exhibitions, artist residencies, weaving and calligraphy workshops, and evening concerts of Gnaoua and Sufi music in the courtyard.
The 16th-century mausoleum of Ahmad al-Mansur, sealed by Moulay Ismail and rediscovered by aerial survey in 1917. The Hall of Twelve Columns uses Carrara marble and honeycombed muqarnas over 66 graves. 09:00–17:00; 100 MAD.
The Jewish quarter established in 1558, with a working synagogue in a blue-and-white courtyard house, a spice-and-pickle market, and the Miaara cemetery of whitewashed graves. Synagogue entry around 20 MAD; closed Saturdays.
A small private museum in a Derb el Cadi riad devoted to boucharouite — rag rugs woven by rural Amazigh women from scrap clothing rather than wool. Roughly 100 pieces plus rural craft objects. Around 40 MAD, closed Sundays.
A Saadian-era riad complex reopened in 2016 after eight years of restoration, with an Islamic char bagh garden fed by the original khettara irrigation channels, an exotic garden and a tower with views to the Atlas.