Es Saadi palace - resort
From lounges to suites, the Palace pays tribute to all Oriental styles, drawing inspiration from Persia or the architecture of Andalusia and Egypt without losing sight of its Moroccan family traditions.
The Palace stands at the heart of 8 hectares of lush greenery, just steps from the city ramparts. Enjoy the ultimate in relaxation, wellness and luxury, with the turquoise waters of one of the largest swimming pools in Marrakech at your doorstep.
History of the Palace
An article by Elizabeth Lambert, 2009.
Beautiful Marrakech is the accessible side of the exotic—the romance and jostle of the faraway made familiar by legacies from the West. The geography is Africa, while the history and political inclinations owe much to Europe. There is the traditional rammed-earth construction of North Africa. There are palaces with the ornament brought by invaders from Andalusia and villas with the Art Déco style brought by administrators of the 20th-century French Protectorate. Marrakech is booming.
Big dreams seem to run in the family. Jean Bauchet brought new life to war-weary Paris by developing the Moulin Rouge and the Casino de Paris. In the early 1950s, after dining with one of his clients, a pasha from Morocco, he followed his new friend's advice and visited Marrakech. That was all it took. He stayed, bought 20 acres of empty land just outside the gates of the walled medina and built a casino. His dancers from Paris came for the opening. Josephine Baker and Maurice Chevalier came too. Word got out: This was the place to be.
People flew in from Paris for weekends—it was all top hats, black ties and jewels. The glamorous set that went to Deauville and Evian during the summer went to Marrakech for the winter.
A hotel adjacent to Bauchet's casino came next, and he asked the new king, Hassan II, to choose its name. By royal suggestion, the new hotel was called Es Saadi, meaning "the contented one" but also a reference to the Saadian dynasty.
That was 1966. Soon thereafter, Cecil Beaton photographed Mick Jagger beside the pool; Princess Margaret arrived, and so did Pierre Balmain. The rich and the famous followed.
The architect for the project was a family friend, Aziz Lamghari, a Moroccan well known for palaces around the world. The instructions they gave him? "Have fun."
He did. His only restrictions were that each villa must be very comfortable and no trees were to be cut down. As Elisabeth Bauchet-Bouhlal puts it, "We could all be foolish together. Every day someone had a new idea. We wanted too much of everything, but the architect kept the balance."
She designed the interiors as though they were her own home, using antiques from around the world that she and her husband had collected. "We had a dream and didn't know what it was," she says, "but when something beautiful comes along, you have to take it."
Moroccan craftsmen are good—very good—and the family knew that if you live in a treasure land, you must take advantage of it. Locals wove fabrics, forged metal and embroidered linens with motifs specific to each villa.
There are indeed treasures of all kinds, but these days it is often the simple luxuries that can be the most difficult to find. Sun in winter, the music of birds, the scent of orange blossom and jasmine, the serenity of the garden after a morning lost in the souk—all are here, but for many, the greatest luxury is total privacy.
