Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Palace of the Bahia

The Bahia Palace is both a palace and a set of gardens situated in the Medina of Marrakesh, along the northern edge of Mellah, also known as the Jewish Quarter.
Completed in 1900, also known as the Prime Minister's palace.

Front entrance.
A cool oasis.

The whole complex is quite large, covering 8 hectares. it is comprised of a series of walled gardens, pavilions and courtyard structures arranged in various scales.

The construction was the work of a father and son, Si Moussa and Ba Amed. The two were vizirs to Alawaid Sharifs, Moroccan sultans. The word Bahia means "brilliance".
The building incorporates beautiful and intricate stucco work and a form of polychrome mosaic known as zellij (or zellige), which was topped by painted inlaid woodwork ceilings.

Everywhere you look, quilt designs, someone over the decades, have replicated these designs for today's patterns. There was no such things as copyright in those ages. 
Quilter's of today cannot claim that they designed these.

The painted ceilings are beautiful.

After the 39 degree heat of the day, the verandas gave some relief. 


  1. Look at all those beautiful "quilt" patterns!

  2. The architecture, etc is just getting better and better - if that is possible.

  3. Oh, wow! SO much amazing pattern everywhere. The garden looks beautiful too. Hard to imagine 39 degrees at the moment. We had a top of 8 here today!

  4. Those round ceiling patterns remind me of Sugy Kim's winning quilt. With the right fabric they would make amazing appliqué patterns.

  5. Moroccans are certainly masters of geometric decoration.