Lalla Salma Inaugurates Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech

On Saturday, Princess Lalla Salma presided over the inauguration ceremony of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech. Dedicated to the work of the couturier, the museum hosts part of the collection of the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation

After having cut the inaugural ribbon, the princess visited the temporary exhibition of "Jacques Majorelle and Morocco", the permanent exhibition room, Yves Saint Laurent, the shop, the photo gallery and the private library of Feu Pierre Bergé.

Located near the famous Majorelle Garden, the Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech Museum (mYSLm) is a cultural centre that will highlight an important aspect of Moroccan culture.

With a total surface of nearly 4,000 m2, this museum is the appropriate space for fashion and art enthusiasts and for a large audience who enjoy discovering the works of Yves Saint Laurent.

Dedicated to the French couturier and his work, known for his love of the ocher city since he discovered it in 1966 and which has been a source of inspiration, the museum includes a temporary exhibition hall of 150 m2 , an auditorium with 130 seats, a bookshop, a café-restaurant with a terrace and a research library of 5,000 books dedicated to literature, poetry, Andalusian-Arab history and geography, botany, Amazigh (Berber) culture, the work of Yves Saint Laurent and fashion.

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Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech to Open Soon

The newly built Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech will open its doors to the public at the end of October with over 4,000 sqm of museum spaces including major exhibition halls, conservation areas, an auditorium and a library

Yves Saint Laurent, Place Djemaa El Fna, (photo © Reginald Gray)

Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier from Studio KO designed the new Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech (mYSLm), which  is located on Rue Yves Saint Laurent.

The museum is dedicated to the work of the great couturier, and it will conserve a part of the collection belonging to the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent. The entire collection includes 5,000 articles of clothing and 15,000 haute couture accessories, as well as tens of thousands of drawings.

The facade of the building appears as an intersection of cubes with a lace-like covering of bricks, creating patterns that recall the weft and warp of fabric. As with the lining of a couture jacket, the interior is radically different: velvety, smooth and radiant.

The magnificent Jardin Majorelle

Close to the Jardin Majorelle, acquired by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1980, the new building covers 4,000 sqm, featuring a 400 sqm permanent exhibition space designed by Christophe Martin, showcasing the fashion work of Yves Saint Laurent. More than just a museum, the mYSLm will include a temporary exhibition space, a research library with over 6,000 volumes, a 150-seat auditorium, a bookstore and a terrace café with interiors designed by Yves Taralon.

The landscaped areas have been designed by garden designer Madison Cox on a surface of 180 square meters reflect the wide diversity of plants cultivated in the country. Sourced locally from specialist plant nurseries in the Marrakech region, they include varieties native to Morocco as well as those introduced centuries ago and well-adapted to the particular climatic conditions of this desert city. Pink Trumpet Vine (Podranea riscasdiana) cascades down into the square, blue and green glazed tiled patio off the entrance to the museum’s interior, creating a cool and refreshing ambience that contrasts with the hot climate of Marrakech.

An intersection of cubes with a lace-like covering of bricks creates patterns that recall the weft and warp of fabric

A large rectangular-shaped reflecting pool lined with zelliges (Moroccan glazed tiles) outside Le Studio Café provides another relaxing and tranquil setting for visitors. It is surrounded with luxuriant, large-leaved plants such as Papyrus, Giant Strelizia, Monstera, and Philodendron that create a jungle-like Henri Rousseau atmosphere. Originally native to Mexico but commonly found throughout Morocco since their introduction to the country centuries ago, Barbary Figs or prickly pears (Opuntiaspp) are extensively planted towards the exit of the museum, where visitors can enjoy their unique shapes and diversity of colour and form.

INFO: museum Architects: Studio KO – Olivier Marty, Karl Fournier Scenography: Christophe Martin Landscape design: Madison Cox Interior design Le Studio Café: Yves Taralon Main contractor: Bymaro Area: 4,000 sqm (400 sqm exhibition hall; 700 sqm conservation area; 120 sqm temporary exhibition hall; 110 sqm café; 180 sqm garden) Completion: 2017

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Museum of History and Civilisation in Rabat Reopens

After a year of renovation, the Museum of History and Civilisation in Rabat will reopen its doors to the general public today (Wednesday 12 April)

The new scenography of the museum combines two paths; a chronological journey that tells the history of Morocco from prehistory to the Islamic period, and a thematic route offering the visitor a specific focus dedicated to marble and antique bronze

The thematic route includes marble statues, mainly from Volubilis and Banasa.

On the upper level, the visitor discover Morocco under different dynasties, including the Idrissides, Almoravides, Almohades, Merinides and Alawites, through archaeological remains unearthed in the sites of Belyounech, Sijilmassa and Koutoubia.

The director of the museum Mohammed VI of Modern and Contemporary Arts and commissioner of the renovation of the museum, Abdelaziz El Idrissi, indicated that the objective of the renovation of the museum is to enrich the cultural offer of the city of Rabat.

"The museum will become a true cultural destination, which will contribute to meet the demand, with the setting up of an exhibition retracing the history of Morocco and the various periods that the country has known, allowing visitors to feel the peculiarity of our heritage," says El Idrissi.

The curator of the Museum of History and Civilisation and curator of the permanent exhibition, Fatima Zohra Chbihi, emphasised that the renovation reflects the museum's vocation to trace the history of the different civilisations of Morocco.

"Different civilisations have crossed our country that constitute the diversity and cultural richness of the Kingdom. The new exhibition was designed primarily to translate the genius of the human spirit and its evolution on Moroccan territory, "says Chbihi.

The restoration of the museum is part of the strategy of the National Museum Foundation, which aims to enhance museums in order to make them more welcoming and attractive and to bring them up to modern standards of conservation and preservation of heritage.

Located in El Brihi street, right in the centre of Rabat, the museum was built under the French protectorate in the 1920s to house the antiquities department of the protectorate.

DETAILS
Museum of History and Civilisations, El Brihi Street, Rabat. Open every day except Tuesdays, from 10am to 6pm. Rates vary from 20 dirhams for adults, 10 dirhams for children between 15 and 18 and 5 dirhams for children under 14 or school groups. A 50% discount is provided for students upon presentation of their card.

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Moroccan Museums Get an Upgrade

Yesterday, Friday, July 29th, the Museum of the Kasbah in Tangier was renamed The Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Cultures and opened its doors to the public after several months of renovation at a cost of around 2.5 million dirhams. Part of the budget (1.3 million dirhams) was kindly donated by a French citizen, resident in Morocco

Now open: "The Kasbah of Mediterranean Cultures"

Mehdi Qotbi, president of the National Museums Foundation (FNM) explained, "We felt the urgency to raise the the various museums of Morocco to international museum standards. So we are not going to wait for state funds to start these projects".

The Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Culture in Tangier is the first in a series of thirteen projects to upgrade of all Moroccan museums. Two museums whose current renovation work began in 2016 should also open their doors by the end of the year.

The next museums to be upgraded is the Archaeological Museum of Rabat which will probably be renamed The Rbati Museum of History and Civilisations.

This will be followed by the Batha Museum in Fez, whose construction was begun in May. According to  Mehdi Qotbi, "The work in Fez includes the consolidation and restoration of the building as well as upgrading its electricity. The three magnificent carved rooms, dating back 300 years, will also be restored".

The Batha Museum in Fez

The Batha museum work has required a budget of around ten million dirhams. Work will also include the creation of reception areas and road signs. Like most others museums it will also be renamed The Batha Museum of Islamic Art.

"We want to strengthen the identity of museums so that they are complementary to each other," said Mehdi Qotbi, who believes that the name of each museum will now "be in line with where it is located and the collections that it presents to the public."

In 2017 the Safi Museum of Ceramics of Safi and The Dar El Bacha Museum in Marrakech should be open to the public.

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A Museum for the Rif - announced in Al Hoceima

HM King Mohammed VI sent an opening message to the participants in the two-day international seminar in Al Hoceima on "The Rif Cultural Heritage: What Museography?" and announced that a special museum would be constructed to preserve the heritage and history of the northern Rif region.

Driss El Yazami

The message from the King was read by the President of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) Driss El Yazami.

"The project aims to showcase the heritage and history of the Rif and to seek the means to preserving the collective memory of this northern region," El Yazami said.The Museum will be designed to promote the Rif heritage and highlight its contribution to Moroccan history, added El Yazami.

Local people hope that situating the museum in El Hociema will also attract more attention to the northern Rif area and bring more visitors to the region. With spectacular scenery, mountains and beaches, the northern Rif has great potential for tourism and thus job creation for local people.

In his message HM King Mohammed VI pointed out that "...due attention should be paid to preserving the collective memory of Moroccans, as an essential step on the path to building a full-fledged democratic society. This is a far-reaching project that we are all trying to preserve and consolidate, while pressing ahead with our endeavours to reconcile Moroccans with their history, transcending the shortfalls of the past, and focusing rather on preserving the present."

No date has been announced for project's completion, but two scientific committees have been set up to move the project forward.