Marrakech - Patrick Man’ach, well known for La Maison de la Photographie, has restored the magnificent colors and glory of a 17th century guest apartment from behind layers of white plaster in a private residence that he purchased.
The apartment which he bought is next door to the great 16th century Mouassine mosque, built when the Saadian dynasty made Marrakech their imperial capital. This is an extremely rare find, and the restored apartment is now being opened to visitors and selected art exhibitions.
Between the mosque and the Mouassine fountain, an archway leads into a small street, the Derb al Hammam, alongside the great wall of the mosque. To the left of the house, which included the hammam, stairs lead up to the douiria which was a guest apartment, or douiria. The guests who stayed there were given an honored place separate from the domestic life of the house. The Douiria, in its restored form, is an important commentary on 17th century Moroccan social history and the courtly art of hospitality for honored guests who were housed close to the mosque.
The reception hall has a lounge with two seating areas facing each other and, crowned by original carved wooden ceilings. On either side of the reception area are two rooms facing each other. They could have been bedrooms or sitting rooms. Four large panels in the central lounge repeat floral patterns in a set of three colors: green, red, an yellow. The completed restoration reveals a symphony of color that suggests a medieval garden, and while the walls are covered in a gypsum-based delicate pink color. The repairs to the walls have been done with gypsum from a quarry in Ourika to exactly match the original delicate coloring.
The room behind the hall has an original wooden ceiling decorated with a sun design. The walls and pillars with stucco decoration reveal brightly colored designs: the "testir" geometric tracery radiating around a central star, are called "the cobwebs of the Propheté." The "touriq" ornaments representing leaves, and the sculpture, a "honeycomb" of wood, stone, or plaster, repeating a pattern called “mqarbes.” Plasterers or “guebbassa" could generally read and write. The effect suggests an ornamental garden.
The restoration work has been supported by restoration experts, including Xavier Salmon, of the Louvre museum in Paris, Hugo van Tilborg, Bruno Biker, and Peter Mestralett.
This apartment was inhabited from 1954 to 2013 by a family from Marrakesh, who concreted the floors and put layers of white plaster over the walls and ceilings, which actually helped to preserve most of the decorative motifs and ornamentation underneath.
Two young expert potters were brought in from Dar Tafza, in the Ourika valley, where Patrick Man’ach created the Berber Ecomuseum, for the restoration work. A total workforce of ten men worked on the project.
A systematic sequence of photography was introduced to cover record all steps of the restoration. Students of the Ecole d’Architecture de Marrakech visited the Douiria regularly and were introduced to the concept of heritage and restoration.
The doors and wooden ceilings, whose colors were unaltered, were left untouched. Nothing was done to the colors except for a careful cleaning and nourishing of the wood.
One may wonder what other hidden treasures exist under layers of plaster in other properties in Marrakech’s medina. Marrakech can only benefit from more such discoveries that can be put on public display. Due to Morocco’s turbulent history, a great deal of architecture and design from earlier generations has been destroyed.
If you want more information about visiting the Douiria in Marrakech, you can contact Patrick Man’ach at the Maison de la Photographie or at visit www.douiria.org.
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