Agdal Gardens

The Agdal Gardens (or Aguedal Gardens) are a large area of botanical gardens in Marrakesh, Morocco. Covering around 400 hectares (4.0 km2; 1.5 sq mi), the gardens are located to the south of the city's historic Kasbah and its Dar al-Makhzen (Royal Palace). The name Agdal derives from the Berber language for "walled meadow". Extending for some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), the gardens include groves of orange, lemon, fig, apricot and pomegranate trees in rectangular plots, linked by olive-lined walkways.

Together with the medina of Marrakech and the Menara Gardens, the Agdal Gardens were listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1985.

History

The gardens were established in the 12th century by Abd al-Mu'min of the Almohad Caliphate. They served as an orchard.

They were renovated by the Saadi dynasty and then enlarged during the reign of Moulay Abderrahmane in the 19th century, when they were enclosed with pisé walls.

Irrigation System

The gardens are irrigated using a number of pools and ditches. A network of underground channels and ditches, known as khettera, bring water down from the High Atlas mountains many kilometres away, via Aghmat in the Ourika Valley to the south.

The Dar El Hana, a small pavilion or minzah, stands beside the largest pool, the Sahraj el-Hana (Tank of Health), which was used to train troops to swim. Sultan Mohammed IV died in the pool when his steam launch capsized there in 1873. His successor, Sultan Moulay Hassan, housed his harem in another pavilion in the gardens, the Dar al Baida.