Dar Si Said


Dar Si Said is a historic late 19th-century palace and present-day museum in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was built between 1894 and 1900 by Si Sa'id, a vizier and the brother of Ba Ahmad ibn Musa, the Grand Vizier and effective ruler of Morocco during the same period under Sultan Abdelaziz. The palace was turned into a museum in 1932, and has been restored several times since.

Architecture

The palace's architecture is similar in ornament to the Bahia Palace built further south by his father and his brother, but unlike the latter it is built over more than one level and has very different layout. Its architectural highlights include a grand reception hall on the upper floor and a large riad garden with a central pavilion of painted wood.

Museum collection

The museum collections includes a wide variety of objects, many of them from the southern regions of Morocco. Until recently the museum's exhibits focused on Moroccan wooden art and objects. Its current exhibits now focus on weaving and Moroccan carpets.
Among the most significant objects of the general collection is an elaborately carved marble basin from the Caliphate era of Cordoba. It was crafted at Madinat al-Zahra between 1002 and 1007 to serve as ablutions basin and was dedicated to 'Abd al-Malik, the son of al-Mansur, and was previously kept at the Ben Youssef Madrasa for centuries.

Gallery