Lonely Planet Travel News
A new museum opening in Morocco is set to make the vibrant city of Marrakesh – a dream holiday destination for many – even more fashionable.
The Yves Saint Laurent museum in Morocco. Image by Musée Yves Saint Laurent
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech opens on 19 October, bringing a collection of clothing, accessories and drawings to a city beloved by the famous designer. The French couturier travelled to Marrakesh for the first time in 1966 and soon bought a property, returning each year to work on his haute couture collections, with the city remaining an inspiration through his career. One of the city’s most popular attractions already claims a connection to the artist and now shares its grounds with the museum. The electric blue Jardin Majorelle was once owned Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. Originally owned by the artist Jacques Majorelle, the pair bought the property to preserve it and eventually gave it to the city of Marrakesh.
x-default
The Majorelle Garden is a botanical garden and artist’s landscape garden in Marrakech, Morocco, which was owned by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. Image by ©saiko3p/Shutterstock
The museum will showcase the works of Yves Saint Laurent and will include a temporary exhibition space, a research library, an auditorium, bookstore and café. There will be fifty pieces of couture from the collection on display in the exhibition hall, centred on different themes and shown alongside audiovisual elements like sketches, films, runway shows and more. The garments will be frequently rotated both to help conserve the pieces and to ensure the exhibition is ever changing.
Yves Saint Laurent in Place Djemaa El Fna. Image by © Reginald Gray
If fashion doesn’t really tickle your fancy, the library will include a number of rare books – extending past fashion and covering Morocco, its history, literature and traditional arts. Students, researchers and members of the public can all look at the books by making an appointment. In the temporary exhibit space, there will be displays dedicated to things like art, design, anthropology and botany, with the first focused on 30 works by the artist Jacques Majorelle.
The Yves Saint Laurent museum in Morocco. Image by Musée Yves Saint Laurent
The new museum in Marrakesh is opening at the same time as another museum in Paris, which will be located at Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent at 5 Avenue Marceau. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech will be open 10 am to 6 pm every day except Wednesday and is located on Rue Yves Saint Laurent, near Jardin Marjorelle.
