Rue Yves Saint Laurent — Marrakech 31°38′ N · 8°00′ W

This is where Saint Laurent learned colour

A museum, a garden, a studio and a villa, all on one street that carries his name. This page explains what you will see in each, what it costs, and when to turn up so you don’t stand in the queue.

Start with the places Prices and hours
places on one street
4
Saint Laurent’s first visit
1966
the year the garden was saved
1980
open every day
8:30
The façade — Marrakech brick, Studio KO
“Marrakech taught me colour. Before that, everything was black.”
— Yves Saint Laurent, 1983
The façade — Marrakech brick, Studio KO
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The places

Four places, one street

You can see all of it in a morning. This is the order we suggest: the museum before the heat, then the garden, then the old studio.

Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech 2017
01 The museum

Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech

متحف إيف سان لوران مراكش

Studio KO, Marrakech / Paris — opened October 2017

A building of Marrakech brick whose façade, up close, looks like woven cloth. That was the architects’ idea: weave on the outside, smooth silk inside. The permanent room is small and dark on purpose; it holds around fifty dresses that change every year. Next to it, a temporary exhibition hall, a library and a café in a quiet courtyard.

  • Fifty pieces, rotated yearly
  • Temporary exhibition hall
  • Café “Le Studio” in the courtyard
Jardin Majorelle 1923
02 The garden

Jardin Majorelle

حديقة ماجوريل

Begun by Jacques Majorelle in 1923, restored by Saint Laurent and Bergé after 1980

Small by today’s standards, under a hectare, but dense: bamboo, huge cacti, palms, ponds with water lilies and fish. In the middle, the villa painted in the blue Majorelle registered under his own name, and lemon-yellow pots. The best photo is at nine in the morning, before the groups arrive.

  • Under a hectare, an hour is enough
  • Water-lily pond
  • The blue villa and its fountain
Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts 2011
03 The studio

Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts

متحف الفنون الأمازيغية

In Majorelle’s old studio — since 2011

Inside the painter’s studio hangs Saint Laurent and Bergé’s own collection of Amazigh jewellery, rugs and dress, some six hundred pieces from the Rif to the Sahara. The last room is dark, its ceiling a mirror pricked with points of light, and the silver jewellery hangs in the middle as if floating.

  • Around 600 pieces
  • The jewellery room with the mirror ceiling
  • Maps of tribes and regions
Villa Oasis 1980
04 The villa

Villa Oasis

فيلا الواحة

Majorelle’s house, then Saint Laurent and Bergé’s — visits by invitation

The house next to the garden, where Saint Laurent drew his collections each spring and autumn. Interiors by Jacques Grange: zellige tiles, painted wood, Berber rugs. The villa is not open to the public, but parts of it appear in the permanent exhibition, and it opens occasionally for events.

  • Normally closed to the public
  • Interiors by Jacques Grange
  • Saint Laurent’s ashes rest in its rose garden
Colour

The colours of the place

Four colours are enough to describe the whole street. Hover over them.

#1C39BB

Majorelle Blue

Registered by Jacques Majorelle in 1937. It is one colour in the shade and another in the sun.

#B85C38

Marrakech Red

The colour of the brick and the city walls. The whole city is this shade, by an old municipal rule.

#E8C547

Lemon Yellow

The pots and window frames in the garden. Chosen by Saint Laurent and Bergé during the restoration.

#3E6B48

Palm Green

The only shade at midday. You sit under it and wait for the heat to pass.

Inside

What is inside

What deserves a stop, and what you can walk through quickly if you are short on time.

Fifty dresses in the dark
Permanent room

Fifty dresses in the dark

Black walls, light only on the pieces — a display by Christophe Martin. You will find the women’s tuxedo, the Mondrian dress and the caftans he drew after his trips to Morocco. Pieces are swapped almost every year because silk does not take light for long.

The jewellery room
The studio

The jewellery room

The last room of the Berber Museum. Switch your phone off for a minute and look up.

The LOVE cards
Archive

The LOVE cards

From 1970 to 2007 Saint Laurent sent a hand-drawn New Year card every year with the word LOVE on it. The full run is shown in order.

Facilities

Library, auditorium and café

A library of five thousand books on fashion, botany and Moroccan history (by appointment), an auditorium of about 130 seats for films and talks, and a courtyard café that works well for a break between the garden and the museum.

1923 — 2017

How we got here

Seven dates are enough to understand the place.

  1. 1923

    Majorelle buys the land

    A French painter who came to Marrakech for his health and stayed. He buys a palm grove in Guéliz and starts planting what he brings back from his travels.

  2. 1931

    The studio

    He commissions architect Paul Sinoir to build a modernist studio, high-ceilinged and open to the north light.

  3. 1937

    The blue

    Majorelle paints the studio and villa a strong cobalt he says he borrowed from local clothing. He registers it under his name: Majorelle Blue.

  4. 1966

    First visit

    Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé arrive in Marrakech in a rainy winter and buy a house in the medina within days. The garden is abandoned and open to anyone.

  5. 1980

    Buying the garden

    When a hotel project threatens the garden, the couple buy it together with the villa and replant it. They name the house Villa Oasis.

  6. 2008

    Farewell

    Yves Saint Laurent dies in Paris. His ashes are scattered in the rose garden of Villa Oasis, as he wished.

  7. 2017

    The museum

    The Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech opens on 19 October, a few steps from the garden.

Before you go

Before you go

Official prices change from time to time, so we list them here as a guide and point you to the official site for booking.

Every day8:30 — 18:00
Last entry17:30
During Ramadan9:00 — 17:00
ClosedEid al-Adha
Currency
Best value

Garden + Berber Museum + mYSLm

All three

300 MAD

  • The garden
  • The Berber Museum
  • The Yves Saint Laurent Museum
Book on the official site

Prices are indicative and may change. Check the official site before you go.

Address

Rue Yves Saint Laurent, Guéliz, 40090 Marrakech

  • Ten minutes by taxi from Jemaa el-Fna. Say “Majorelle” — everyone knows it.
  • Walking from Guéliz is fine; from the medina, not advisable in the heat.
  • Parking is scarce; the petit taxi is the easy option.
Photos

Photos of the place

Illustrations of the four places, not official photographs — the light is what you get in the morning and just before sunset.