Marrakech (مراكش marrākiš), known under the name of “pearl of the south” or “red city”, located in the south-western part of the country on the hills of the Atlas Mountains.
The city was founded in 1062 by Youssef Ibn Tachfin, first sovereign of the Almoravides dynasty. In the past, Morocco was known in the East under the name of Marrakech, this name is still in use in Iran, the name Morocco came from the deformation of the Spanish pronunciation of Marrakech: Marruecos.

Presenting the city

The city is divided into two distinct parts: the medina or historical city and the new city whose principal districts are called: Guéliz and Hivernage. Guéliz constitutes today the business center of town. It was founded by the French at the time of protectorate. The district of   Hivernage contains many hotel complexes. For a few years, the city has increased in periphery, in particular in the West, with the appearance of new residential districts as for the area of Targa or the extension of Mohammed VI Avenue. For the city authorities, the ceaseless urbanization of Marrakech should know a brake in the next years in order to avoid an uncontrolled growth and to remain under 3 million people.

The medina and its doors

The medina -“city” in Arabic is the historic part of town. Surrounded by Pisa ramparts built by Almoravide Ali Ben Youssef in 1132. This wall is 5 meters high and two meters thick and extends approximately for over 12 km in length.

Part of the enclosure is still well preserved; it was however extended at the moment of the successive enlarging of the medina, in particular at the time of the almohade. This immense enclosure contains 19 doors among which it is necessary to mention the two principal ones:

• Bab Doukkala is an imposing work made up of two projecting bastions on both sides and a door delivering passage to a corridor. Of almoravide origin, it owes its name to the territory namesake, inhabited by almohades populations. The bus station is in the vicinity.
• Bab Aghmat is a door which opens on one of the bastions defending it. This plan results from a remodeling of the primitive door of almoravide time.

Inside the walls are concentrated the majority of the historic buildings of the city - Koutoubia Mosque, Jamaa El Fna place -classified by UNESCO in 2001 as humanity moral inheritance and many palaces…

Tourism :

The city is a tourist height -place- more than two million tourists each year. It is also the starting point of many of the hikers’ excursion, eager to cross the Atlas or the desert in the south.

Monuments and tourist sites :

Festivals and demonstrations :

• Marrakech popular arts festival is annual and takes place on July;
• Marrakech International film festival is an annual event - in November to reward best Moroccan and foreign feature and short films production, it is of growing fame and holds worldwide recognition;
• Awaln' art festival: Marrakech Street-Art international meetings, organized by Éclats de Lune company. The meetings take place simultaneously at Tahanaoute, Aït Ourir, Aghmat, Amizmiz and Marrakech. Awaln' Art is also claimed to be a local, cultural and tourist development catalyst for Al Haouz province;
• Aeroexpo: International industries and aeronautic services fair;
• Marrakech Marathon;
• International film festival;
• Magic Festival;
• Popular arts Festival;
• Khmissa: demonstration to reward the women who famous during the year in various fields;
• Poetry spring;
• Riad art expo: Moroccan art of living exhibition;
• Garden' art: garden art festival which aims to bring together garden artists, landscape designers, architects, professionals and amateurs with a huge place devoted to environmental education and ecotourism;
• Women of Africa festival: this festival celebrates women actions on cultural, economic and artistic level through the African continent;
• Caftan 2007: revealing talents and styles, this parade is the inescapable meeting of Moroccan high fashion;
• French-speaking humor festival;
• Spring Moroccan song festival. 

Sightseeing around Marrakech :

Links

• Marrakech Regional Investment center
• Marrakech Urban agency
• Made in marrakech
• I love Marrakesh
• Marrakech Guide
• Marrakech weather
• emarrakech : Moroccan gate to current events 
• Morocco Antan