The Medina of Marrakesh: foundation, monuments, houses, and life after the earthquake

Marrakesh is the Moroccan medina most bought, most renovated and most transformed by tourism; since 2023 it is also the one where the soundness of old buildings matters most. This guide describes the city’s foundation and structure, its monuments and housing from UNESCO’s assessment, then what the earthquake changed for owners and what the protection regime requires of them. It belongs to the Cities section.

How did Marrakesh take shape?

UNESCO sums up: “founded in 1070-1072 by the Almoravids (1056-1147), capital of the Almohads (1147-1269), Marrakesh was, for a long time, a major political, economic and cultural centre of the western Muslim world, reigning in North Africa and Andalusia”. The 1984 ICOMOS evaluation that underpinned the inscription adds that Youssef ben Tachfin founded the city on the site of the camp Abou Bekr had left in his keeping, and that the enclosure was built in 1126-1127 by order of Ali ben Youssef. The Almohads, having destroyed the Almoravid city, made it a capital of prestige: theirs is the Koutoubia, completed in the 12th century, whose “matchless minaret of 77 metres” is “the symbol of the City”, and the kasbah to the south. After the Marinid decline, the Saadians (1510-1659) made Marrakesh their capital again and gave it El Badi, the Saadian tombs and the rebuilt Ben Youssef madrasa; the Alaouites, then the 19th century of the grand viziers, added the Bahia and the great residences.

Criterion (ii) holds that “the capital of the Almoravids and the Almohads has played a decisive role in medieval urban development” and that Fez Jdid, the Marinid town, “is an adaptation of the earlier urban model of Marrakesh”; criterion (iv), that Marrakesh, “which gave its name to the Moroccan empire, is a completed example of a major Islamic capital of the western Mediterranean”.

How is the medina organised?

The medina covers “700 hectares” of built fabric within a total inscribed area of 1,107 hectares, whose “boundary is correctly defined by the original ramparts”. Those red rammed-earth ramparts, which gave the city its colour, enclose a plan UNESCO describes as a “tangle of lanes” and the Organization of World Heritage Cities calls an “irregular medieval plan”, organised around meeting places, mosques, madrasas and the great square of Jemaa el-Fna, separately inscribed as a cultural space of intangible heritage. To the south the Almohad kasbah forms a city within the city, with the royal palace, the Saadian tombs and El Badi.

Two elements set Marrakesh apart from the other medinas. The gardens and the palm grove, “the plantation of which is attributed to the Almoravids”, are part of the property: “its natural environment (notably the Gardens of Aguedal, Ménara and the Palm Grove)” is among the components of its universal value. And the khettaras, underground drainage galleries that tapped the water table at the foot of the Atlas and brought it to the city, made the medina possible on an arid plain; their abandonment is cited by UNESCO among the threats to integrity.

What are the monuments and building types?

Criterion (i) holds that Marrakesh “contains an impressive number of masterpieces of architecture and art, each one of which could justify, alone, a recognition of Outstanding Universal Value”. Criterion (v) aims at something else: “in the 700 hectares of the Medina, the ancient habitat, rendered vulnerable due to demographic change, represents an outstanding example of a living historic town with its tangle of lanes, its houses, souks, fondouks, artisanal activities and traditional trades”. The guides on the riad and tadelakt describe this habitat and its trades.

What threatens the medina’s integrity?

UNESCO judges that “the integrity of the property is vulnerable due to pressure from urban development, uncontrolled alterations to upper floors and construction materials of the houses, the abandonment of the Khettaras (underground drainage galleries) and exploitation of the palm groves”. The first two aim directly at riad owners: adding floors and replacing traditional materials with concrete. The authenticity assessment is more favourable: “reconstruction and redevelopment work carried out in the heart of the historic centre generally respects the original volume and style”, and restoration “has tremendously revived the artisanal trades linked to construction”.

In 2026, by Decision 48 COM 7B.6, the World Heritage Committee added a reservation about two car-park projects inside the property, at Arset Bouachrine and at El Antaki Hospital: it asks, “before any irreversible decision is made”, for a consolidated report answering each technical concern, with “preliminary archaeological investigations”, traffic and environmental studies, and it asks that the Arset Bouachrine project be “re-examined” with measures “to restore ‘Arset Bouachrine’ to its original state and recover the original spirit of the historic garden”. It also asks for clarification of “the management system, in particular the structure in place for the property, its status, staffing, mandate and funding modalities”, and for a sustainable tourism management plan. The adopted decision does not place the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

What did the earthquake of 8 September 2023 change?

The Al Haouz earthquake, magnitude 6.8, struck on 8 September 2023. In the medina the minaret of the Kharbouch mosque on Jemaa el-Fna partly collapsed, the ramparts showed deep cracks and section collapses, and the Koutoubia suffered structural cracks; UNESCO counted 34 damaged mosques. The state of conservation report submitted by Morocco in February 2024 states that “the medina ramparts have undergone an immediate restoration campaign”, and the Director of World Heritage examined in April 2024 “the measures put in place and the consolidation work undertaken for Koutoubia Mosque and Bahia palace”.

Two Committee decisions frame what follows. In 2024 (Decision 46 COM 7B.28) it welcomed “the establishment by the State Party of technical commissions to assess the damage caused by the earthquake of 8 September 2023 and of a specialised scientific commission to examine draft demolition orders”. In 2026 (Decision 48 COM 7B.6) it noted “with appreciation the progress reported” and requested “a comprehensive technical and scientific documentation” including “detailed damage assessment reports”, “technical documentation on the interventions, including the selected options, intervention methods and monitoring system”, also for interventions “carried out under the responsibility of other administrations, such as for Koutoubia Mosque”, and “an overall, consolidated schedule of interventions”, with an updated report due by 1 December 2027.

What is the protection regime, and what does it mean for an owner?

The texts: “protection measures are essentially related to different laws for the listing of historic monuments and sites, in particular Law 22-80 concerning heritage. In addition to this legislation, each of the more important monuments of the Medina of Marrakesh is protected by specific regulatory texts.” The actor: “the Regional Inspection for Historic Monuments and Sites (attached to the Ministry for Culture) is specifically responsible for the management, restoration, maintenance and conservation of the historic monuments on the one hand, and on the other, the examination of requests for building and development permits and the control of building sites in the Medina”. The tool: “the Architectural Charter of the Medina of Marrakesh, developed by the Urban Agency of Marrakesh in cooperation with the Regional Inspection”, whose implementation agreement was signed on 11 November 2008.

In practice: any project in the medina follows the procedure of the building permit with the Regional Inspection’s opinion and the charter’s requirements; added floors and non-traditional materials are the two grounds for refusal that UNESCO names as threats; and riad land tenure, often joint or under habous, is checked before any payment, as Land title vs melkia explains. The detailed rules are the subject of the guide on renovating in a medina.