Marrakech in five places

This most magical of north African cities is a dazzling mosaic of bazaars, mosques and gardens. BARNABY ROGERSON picks five unmissable historical highlights

- By BARNABY ROGERSON

① Ben Youssef Medersa
House of holy wisdom

The Saadians – the Arabic dynasty that took Marrakech and ruled Morocco from the mid-16th century until 1659 – were hugely wealthy. Having conquered Timbuktu, they controlled the gold trade of west Africa and also commerce in sugar before that moved to the Caribbean. As an act of largesse, they decided to bestow on Marrakech a great medersa (Islamic theological college) – one more magnificent than those in the rival ancient Arabic city in northern Morocco, Fez.

They built the Ben Youssef Medersa on the site of an earlier iteration from the 14th century. Unlike most mosques in Morocco, historical medersas are open to non-Muslim visitors – and this one is astonishing, with finely carved cedar woodwork above intricate stucco decoration, and elaborate zellij tiles featuring geometric and floral motifs lining the lower courtyard walls.

In its heyday, the medersa housed up to 900 students (all boys). Any scholar interested in Islam would be given free bread and water, cared for and given lessons for five or six years until he had learned to recite the Qur'an. Then, if he was particularly clever, he'd have another 12 years studying the Hadith and Islamic laws to become Ilm – a 'knowledgeable one'.

② Rahba Kedima and Criée Berbère
Magic and misery

In the south of the warren of alleys comprising the district of