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Dar Si Said () is a historic late 19th-century palace and present-day
File:Museo Dar Si Said, Marrakech 07.JPG, The riad garden
File:Dar si Said DSCF1681 (wiki).jpg, Painted decoration inside the wooden pavilion of the garden
File:Οικία-μουσείο Dar Si Said 1490.jpg, A courtyard with fountain in the palace
File:Dar si said DSCF1822.jpg, One of the grand halls in the palace
File:Dar si said DSCF1706.jpg, Cupola over the grand hall
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 collection included an Andalusi marble basin crafted at Madinat al-Zahra between 1002 and 1007, which was later reused in the Ben Youssef Madrasa, where it was recently returned. Following the museum's reopening in 2018, its current exhibits now focus on weaving and Moroccan
museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
in Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
, Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. It currently houses the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets.
History
It was built between 1894 and 1900 by Si Sa'id ibn Musa, avizier
A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...
and minister of defence under his brother Ba Ahmad ibn Musa, who was the Grand Vizier
Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
and effective ruler of Morocco during the same period under Sultan Abdelaziz (ruled 1894–1908). After 1914, under the French Protectorate administration, the palace served as the seat of the regional leaders of Marrakesh. It was converted into a museum of "indigenous arts" (meaning Moroccan art) and woodcraft in 1930 or 1932. In 1957, after Moroccan independence, the palace was split into a museum section and a section occupied by the ''Service de l’Artisanat'' (Agency of Artisanship).
The building has been restored several times since and remains a museum today. Following renovations carried out by the recently created ''Fondation Nationale des Musées'', the museum reopened in 2018 as the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets.
The museum was significantly damaged by the September 2023 earthquake and was subsequently closed for repairs. As of October 2023, it was estimated that repairs would take at least six months.
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 a 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 collection included an Andalusi marble basin crafted at Madinat al-Zahra between 1002 and 1007, which was later reused in the Ben Youssef Madrasa, where it was recently returned. Following the museum's reopening in 2018, its current exhibits now focus on weaving and Moroccan carpets
A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...
.
See also
* Marrakech Museum * Bahia Palace * Nejjarine Museum (in Fes)References
{{Morocco-struct-stub Palaces in Marrakesh Museums in Morocco