Located in Marrakech, Morocco, the Bahia Palace is a 19th-century structure with chambers embellished with exquisite mosaics, paintings, and stucco. It also includes a collection of gardens. The goal of the Bahia Palace was to become the best palace in its era. The Bahia Palace’s name translates to “brilliance” in Arabic. It was designed to capture the spirit of the Islamic and Moroccan style, just like other buildings from the same era in other nations. The Bahia Palace has a 2-acre (8,000 m2) lawn with rooms that open into courtyards.
The Palace of Bahia was The Bahia palace would be named after one of the sultan’s wives and was constructed for his personal use at the end of the 19th century by Si Moussa, the grand vizier. This is the harem, which consists of a large court with a central basin and chambers for the concubines all around it. Toward the end of the 19th century, Abu Ahmed, a black slave, became wealthy and powerful. He brought in craftsmen from Fez to build the Bahia mansion.
The Bahia palace was utilized as a royal house when Morocco gained independence from France in 1956. However, King Hassan II later moved it to the Moroccan Ministry of Culture so that it might be used as a tourist attraction and cultural landmark.
There are several rooms in the Bahia palace, including the Hall for business and administrative purposes, the four equal-sized rooms for his wives, which all have the same status, the quarter for his twenty-four concubines, which has twelve rooms to share (two concubines in one room), and a dining room; the School, where Abu’s sons and daughters receive their education from their teachers and are converted into a mosque five times a day for prayer; and Abu’s own quarters, which include a summer room with windows and a smaller winter room without windows, as well as his own private dining room.
Si Moussa, a freed slave who ascended through the ranks to become one of Sultan Hassan I’s most significant advisers, finished the oldest section of the Bahia palace complex in 1867. Stained-glass details, carved wood lintels, and zouak artistry adorn the riad’s salon. Bahia Palace was believed to be the first structure in North Africa to incorporate stained glass as a decorative element.
