Morocco’s hidden art garden
| 5th July 2023
Janet Reeder ventures off the beaten path on a trip to Marrakech for a botanical staging like no other.
Jardin Majorelle are one of the must-see attractions of Marrakech if you’re spending a few days in one of Morocco’s most thrilling cities.
They are distinguished by beautifully tended plants and the stunning Majorelle blue of the house where the celebrated French fashion designer Yves St Laurent squirreled away his collection of Berber artefacts.
Anima Gardens Fountain. Pictures Paul Morgans.
You can see why it is the one everyone queues for. At the nearby MyKawa cafe we wait for our 11am slot alongside Americans in full Tom Woolf attire – a fedora guy with dark glasses and besuited pals.
There are girls, one in a shirt and baseball cap, another a skimpy crochet top, then a Moroccan guy in matching Gucci logo tee shirt and shorts. Is it a fake? You bet! They are all there for the experience and, well, queuing is part of that.
It creates a sense of anticipation and makes you think hey! This really is the hottest ticket in town. Finally, when you are allowed in by elegantly attired staff you follow the reddish pathway and then you glimpse the house. That blue. So brilliant and jewel like in a beautifully imagined space. A visit to the garden and the adjacent Yves St Laurent Museum is around £25 per ticket. Worth it certainly, but still expensive especially as it can all feel a bit of a rush.
However, for anyone who loves art and/or gardens there is another must see just outside Marrakesh in the lush Ourika area.
These the magical Anima Gardens of André Heller
I’d found a fleeting mention of these online but there’s nothing else, no literature, no tours no mention in any guidebooks. Did they really exist? Yes, they do and while Jardin Majorelle is expensive, crowded and with a heavy focus on horticulture, the Anima Gardens are what happens when one man has a vision and marries it to a beautiful and bonkers art collection.
Heller is an Austrian artist, famed for his theme park in Hamburg and other whacky projects. But he’s created a magnificent art garden in this less frenetic and more rural area. You can get there by car or local bus, but the best (and cheapest) way is the free shuttle bus from behind the Koutoubia Mosque (the area furthest away from Jemaa el-Fnaa square).
You need to book in advance as the driver crosses off the names as you arrive. We took the 9.30am bus but there’s another at 2.30pm if you want a lie in.
The journey takes 45 minutes along the main road out to the Ulrika Valley. The road is home to dozens and dozens of workshops some filled with brightly painted pots, others with intricate basket work, tiles tables, carved wooden doors like something out of Game of Thrones. There are others with beautifully decorated brass lamps or a herd of metalwork stallions rearing up over the dusty roadside. It’s a creative hub where you might find a special piece to ship back home and have fun in doing so.
The driver eventually turns off the main road onto a dusty track lined with shrubs and trees. We come up against a wall, then bright painted panels and a gate and we are there.
After buying our tickets for 12 euros (you can purchase them online, but it is not necessary as unlike Jardin Majorelle we are talking a couple of dozen visitors as opposed to hundreds) and we start by winding through the paths leading into the garden and encounter ourselves.
Walls of Art
Janet Reeder Style - The Art of the Garden Wall. Pictures by Paul Morgans.
There’s a wall of art interspersed with mirrors where we spot our reflection. It’s like we are part of this magical arty paradise.
We sit in a little sunken garden area listening to the sound of birds and a small fountain bubbling. It is walled in turquoise there are benches with legs painted in stripes of orange, yellow, purple, and pink mosaicked concave and convex circles in the walls and trees topiarised in domes. It’s serene and beautiful a collaboration of art and nature.
There’s a rose garden with Chinese style pergola and a water feature filled with rose petals. A thinker statue opposite; a colourful vibe.
We wind our way through the paths linking each section, constantly surprised and delighted by each work of art. A book about the garden I later browse in the gift shop describes it as a “Garden of Eden unaffiliated with any particular religion. It offers plenty of room for outsiders, for outcasts, for exotic samples of flora and or crippled palm trees by providing a loving setting for imperfection.”
The trail eventually leads to Cafe Paul Bowles where there’s a rooftop terrace with glorious views of the Atlas Mountains, downstairs mosaic topped tables and walls painted on stripes of neon pink, lime, orange, and turquoise add a touch of gaiety to the white tiled almost minimalist kitchen area. We’ve been there three hours and it’s time for lunch.
Then we take the path back to the bus via two more artworks. A maze made of stones and an anvil shaped sculpture in a corroded dark red. Nowhere specifies which artist did what as Heller intends visitors to enjoy the experience without being aware that this or that is by someone famous, although a Keith Haring and a Miro are instantly recognisable. It makes the experience much more spiritual and as far removed from a gallery as can be. It is truly a place of wonder.
For more details, visit: www.anima-garden.com or www.jardinmajorelle.com