Menara Gardens

minaret to the east; the minaret has been suggested as one possible origin of the garden's name, Menara The Arabic word menara () variously means "minaret", "lighthouse", "lantern/beacon" or other elevated structures of the kind. It is often suggested that this refers to the two-story pavilion standing on the edge of the main reservoir. However, other historians, such as Gaston Deverdun, have suggested that the name could date from as far back as the Almohad period (long before the current pavilion's construction) and that it may be an allusion to the minaret of the Kutubiyya Mosque to the northeast, which was founded and begun under Abd al-Mu'min's reign and with which the gardens were more or less aligned. == History ==

The tradition of creating gardens on the outskirts of the city began early with the Almoravids who founded Marrakesh in 1070. Multiple gardens, estates, and artificial lakes were established in multiple sites outside the city walls, often referred to as – singular – an Arabic word meaning "little sea", presumably in reference to the artificial lakes and large water basins. These garden estates continued to exist and develop under the Almohads who conquered the city in the 12th century. The Menara Gardens were first established by Abd al-Mu'min, the Almohad ruler who conquered the city, in 1157. This dating has been deduced by scholars from historical chronicles describing Abd al-Mu'min's construction of an enormous garden estate west of the city which contained two large water reservoirs.). The second reservoir in question is believed to be the Sahrij al-Bgar (or Sahrij al-Baqar), located outside and southeast of the Menara Gardens today, a short distance west of Bab Ighli and the Agdal Gardens. The Sahrij al-Bgar is no longer in use and lies empty today, but was probably part of the same garden estate at the time. This vast estate was in turn enclosed by a 6-mile-long wall (absent today). The Menara's location to the west of the city walls is also consistent with the fact that Abd al-Mu'min still used the former Almoravid palace, the Ksar al-Hajjar (located next to the present-day site of the Kutubiyya Mosque), as his residence. The gardens are also perfectly aligned with Bab al-Makhzen, the western gate of the city, near the palace, which Abd al-Mu'min would have likely used to go in and out of the city. (Note: a smaller number of sources cite the earlier 18th-century Alaouite sultan Muhammad ibn Abdallah, who restored and built many other structures in Marrakesh, as the one who restored the Menara Gardens, although the pavilion's construction is precisely dated thanks to an inscription on the archway of its balcony.) Up until the early 20th century the gardens were also used to raise ostriches, in line with a long tradition of sultans using wild animals to impress and entertain visitors. == Description ==

Geography The gardens are located on a topographically flat area west of the city, outside the historic city walls and very close to the Menara Airport. Today they still consist of the large central water basin, its historical pavilion, and a very large orchard around it. Together they cover a quadrilateral area about 1200 meters long (from northwest to southeast) and between 720 and 800 meters wide (from southwest to northeast). While there have not been many comprehensive archeological investigations of these gardens, historical texts provide some information about what was planted here and in other gardens like the Agdal. Throughout their history they were planted similar types of trees and crops, mostly fruit and olive trees. Today the orchard still consists mostly of olive trees and to a lesser extent fruit trees and cypress trees. The trees are planted in a regular 10-meter grid. Irrigation and water supply The orchards are watered via an irrigation system which required regular maintenance. During periods of neglect and decline in the city's history, they were prone to desertification. The creation of large water basins was designed to store large amounts of water which could be used to water the gardens year-round, even during the winter when rivers and other sources were typically dry. Water was brought to the city and to the gardens by a network of khettaras: an ancient method where underground channels were dug at a steady gradient from lowland areas to tap directly into the phreatic table of upland areas (in this case the nearby High Atlas Mountains). The water reservoir of the Menara is in turn built above ground so that the surrounding orchards, located at the lower ground level, could be watered with the help of gravity. The walkway around the reservoir is reached by various stairs. At the foot of the stairs on the northeast side is a small ornamental octagonal basin and former fountain. The pavilion The 19th century pavilion or menzeh, built in stone, has a rectangular floor plan, two floors, and is topped by a pyramidal green-tiled roof. It has been described as a classic example of royal pavilion architecture in Morocco during the Alaouite period. The first floor, which was functional and used for domestic purposes, consists of a large room between four heavy pillars, plus an exterior triple-arched portico that projects northwards and opens onto the edge of the artificial lake. An entrance doorway is also located on the south side of the building. The upper floor is reached via a steep straight staircase. This upper floor consists of a large square room, with a low rectangular door that leads to a rectangular balcony on its north side on top of the projecting ground-floor portico. The low door was possibly made this way to prevent public onlookers below from seeing inside the building when it was open. The staircase to the upper floor also continues to the roof, where a much smaller balcony on the south side provided views over the orchards and towards the Atlas Mountains. The pavilion is also set inside its own small garden area enclosed by its another wall, separating it from the rest of the public grounds around it. As with other Alaouite structures of the 18th-19th centuries, the decoration of the pavilion is relatively austere compared to earlier periods of Moroccan architecture. On the exterior, the corners and edges of the pavilion's walls are painted to look like brickwork, while geometric and epigraphic decoration are painted around the southern entrance doorway and around some of the windows. The door to the northern balcony overlooking the water is framed on the outside by a large, prominent, semi-circular blind arch highlighted with a keystone motif. The spandrels of the arch are painted with arabesque motifs, above which a narrow horizontal band is filled by an Arabic inscription that includes the completion date of the building (1286 AH). All the painted decoration is executed in ochre colours on a layer of plaster that covers the outside and inside of the building. The interior chambers of the building have decoration consisting of painted lines that highlight the groin vault ceilings, stucco carved and painted with geometric patterns around the windows and doors, and painted wood ceilings and door leaves. File:Menara DSCF8320.jpg|View of the pavilion and its surrounding walled enclosure on the edge of the reservoir File:Menara Garden (Marrakech, Moroc) 09.jpg|The inner garden enclosure around the pavilion File:Menara pabellón. 14.jpg|The southern entrance to the pavilion File:Menera (retouched).jpg|Painted decoration around the blind archway over the northern balcony File:Menara pabellón. 08.jpg|Interior of the pavilion, with stucco decoration around a window File:Menara pabellón. 10.jpg|Painted decoration around a vaulted ceiling File:Menara pabellón. 06.jpg|Painted wood ceiling in the pavilion == See also ==