Majorelle Garden, Botanical garden in Marrakesh, Morocco
Majorelle Garden is a one-hectare botanical garden in Marrakesh, Morocco, created by painter Jacques Majorelle from 1923. Its centrepiece is a Cubist villa designed by Paul Sinoir in the 1930s, painted deep cobalt blue, with a lower arcade of three pointed arches on slender columns and a rectangular balcony above. Tall cacti and grey-green agaves grow among the plantings.
Jacques Majorelle began laying out the garden around his villa in 1923 and expanded it over four decades with exotic plants. Architect Paul Sinoir designed the cubist main building in 1931, which now houses a museum dedicated to Berber culture.
The garden owes its name to French painter Jacques Majorelle, who created it in 1923 as a personal retreat for his artistic experiments with color and form. Designer Yves Saint Laurent later acquired the property and preserved it as a living example of the connection between European modernism and Moroccan garden art.
The entrance is near Avenue Yacoub el Mansour, and the paths are mostly level and accessible for wheelchairs. Morning hours see fewer visitors, and the cooler part of the day works better for walking through the sunny sections.
The specific blue paint on the buildings came from an experiment by Majorelle with cobalt pigments and later became known as Majorelle Blue. This shade now contrasts with the bright yellows of the terracotta pots and the deep green of the vegetation surrounding the structures.
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