The discovery !
“May my eyes caress these places for all the centuries when they have not been visited !” Maurice Tranchant de Lunel, in his book “In the land of paradox”, translates his emotion as he discovers, by a night, the Saadian Tombs : “In the light of lanterns, the sober splendour of this tomb, the most magnificent certainly of all Morocco, moved me to absolute silence”
This French architect, also a watercolourist in his spare time, who had been commissioned by Marshal Lyautey (Resident General of Morocco 1912-1925) to enhance the monuments in Morocco, had been invited by a Caïd. His host starts to evoke the Saadian emperos and simply asks him: “Would you like to see something?” He takes him near the Great Mosque, and, through a secret and difficult access, allows him to discover this mausoleum of the Saadian Sultans. The door, sealed for centuries, had forbidden anyone to admire this architectural marvel. This set of burial chambers, this garden-necropolis had therefore been hidden, concealed from the eyes of men for so long !
Watercolour by Maurice Tranchant de Lunel. The Saadian Tombs gate.
Lyautey, alerted to this event, joins him in Marrakech. Besides his official duties, Lyautey really loved Morocco. He was fond of its arts and architecture. During his governorship and even after, he will dedicate himself to the promotion of the Moroccan culture. Stunned by this extraordinary discovery, he decides to quickly open the place to the public. The restoration work begins. We are in 1917. We must go back in time.
The Marshal Hubert Lyautey
Memory of a dynasty
Built by Ahmed Al-Mansour Eddahbi (1578-1603), two steps from his sumptuous El-Badiî Palace, it is undoubtedly superstition that prevented the total destruction of the Saadian Tombs. This was not, alas, the case of the Badiî Palace which was gradually dismantled by the Alaouite sovereign Moulay Ismaël (1645-1727), eager to build his imperial city of Meknes from 1672.
The Saadien Sultan , wanting to honor with pomp the memory of ancestors, created this burial place at the end of the 16th century. He sees it as a monument worthy of the glory and power of his dynasty. Some historians believe that a royal cemetery already existed at the same place.
The mausoleum as we see it today dates from the period 1578-1603. Sultan Al-Mansour places the tombs of his closest family members, wives, mother, father, grandfather, brothers but also people of lower rank. It seems that he himself planned his own burial. After his death the mausoleum will continue to fulfill his office for some other descendants.
In addition, members of the Alaouite dynasty (present-day ruling dynasty) will also be buried there until the end of the 18th century.
In majesty
The gardens are also covered with colorful tombstones.
A building, with loggias on each side, consists of the Chamber of Lalla Mas’uda (mother of Ahmed Al-Mansour) and the Great Chamber.
The largest building is composed of the Mihrab Chamber, the Chamber of the Three Niches and the Chamber the Twelve Columns, where the central tomb of Sultan Al-Mansour seems to be a throne.
The Chamber of the Twelve Columns
The Great Chamber and the Chamber of the Three Niches
This necropolis set is obviously decorated in the most beautiful way. Multicolored zelliges, columns in Carrara marble, stucco and finely carved marble, gold, painted and carved cedar. The decorations offer complex arabesques, a lace of geometric patterns, honeycomb muqarnas, stalactites…
No doubt you will be mesmerized by the beauty of the artistic decorative invention.
Tribute to passing time
Of course, they had to create something unique and magnificent in order to celebrate the memory of the dead at its highest level and to maintain the memory of the disappeared family members. Only a few have passed into posterity, history has retained the importance of this or that character. But the shelter that houses their eternal rest is now admired by crowds of visitors from all over the world. They often stand silent and respectful. Time has done its work.
