RIAD ASSALA

The Riad ASSALA, the authentic in Arabic, is located in the heart of the oldest districts of the Medina of Marrakech, a city created in 1070 AD by the Almoravid dynasty.
Marrakech has always was the most important city in the South and its creation can be broken down into three stages: Abou BEKR, the famous Almoravid warlord in 1062 chose the site.
Youssef Ben TACHFINE his cousin and successor founded the city by transforming the camp of the nomads into a fortified place called ksar Al Ajar; he built a stone Kasbah north of the current KOUTOUBIA and quickly transformed this first construction into a citadel.

In 1126 he erected a 9 km rampart and built a new palace by creating buildings in the city of public utility (mosques, fountains, oratories etc.) the monuments that he erected will be of great architectural richness and very marked by the Andalusian influence.

In 1147 Marrakech fell and passed into the hands of the Almohades under the impulse of Caliph Abdel Moumen Ben Ali, a supporter of a more rigorous and more mystical Muslim tradition.

It was he who inaugurated the great prosperous period of Marrakech which he was to enlarge, urbanize, by the construction of the Casbah, an immense royal district which required the participation of 4000 craftsmen. He completed at the same time the great mosque of KOUTOUBIA, and Marrakech becomes a true imperial city with a multiple political, intellectual, military, spiritual, commercial, and artisanal function, essential crossroads of the South in constant relation with the Sahara, Andalusia, and the Maghreb.

The construction of Riad ASSALA, adjoining one of the Royal Palaces, is part of the richness of this history. It is a late 17th century building with two Patios, the oldest of which has kept its original paintings as well as its cedar doors and fittings, the other Patio offering you a deep swimming pool.

You will be a few minutes from the Jamaa El Fna square by the Souks and close to all the historical sites of the city: The museum of Marrakech The Bahia palace former residence of Marshal Lyautey Residing at the French General in Morocco The Madersa Ben Youssef, built in 1570 under the SAADIAN dynasty, making it the most important building at the time in the whole of the Maghreb with its 900 permanent students and 150 cells.

The tomb of the SAADIAN kings The MOUASSINE Fountain The KOUTOUBIA mosque The famous JAMAA EL FNA square You will be transported to the wonderful and mythical atmosphere of the Arab world as we discovered its legends and tales, you will find while strolling in these old alleys something of poetry of the thousand and one nights, you will taste on returning to the Riad the silence and the peace which make its charm, you will relax in its Patio bathed in the perfume of the scents of the Orient while enjoying a glass of mint tea.

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