3 Best Sights in Marrakesh, Morocco

Opened in late 2017, the stunning Yves Saint Laurent Museum is an ocher- and brick-color construction of cubic forms and curves, with patterns resembling threads of fabric. Inside, there is a vast collection of fashion and haute couture accessories as well as temporary exhibits and a reference library of botany, fashion, and Amazigh culture. It's next to the Jardin Majorelle, which contains the Villa Oasis, where the designer lived. A combination ticket for the garden and museum is available. 

This 19th-century palace is now a museum with an excellent collection of antique Moroccan crafts including pottery from Safi and Tamegroute, jewelry, daggers, caftans, carpets, and leatherwork. The palace's courtyard is filled with flowers and cypress trees, and furnished with a gazebo and fountain. The most extraordinary salon is upstairs; it's a somber room decorated with gibs cornices, zellij walls, and an amazing carved-cedar ceiling painted in the zouak style (bright colors in intricate patterns). Look for the prize exhibit, a marble basin with an inscription indicating its 10th-century Córdoban origin. The basin, which is sometimes on loan to other museums, was once given pride of place in the Ali ben Youssef Mosque in the north of the souk. It was brought to Morocco by the Almoravid sultan in spite of its decorative eagles and griffins, which defy the Koran's prohibition of artistic representations of living things.

This restored riad, in the heart of the medina, houses a rare collection of original black-and-white photos and glass negatives that depict life in Moroccan communities between 1862 and 1960. The archive, which was established in 2009, is constantly growing and there are regular thematic exhibitions. There is also a very pleasant roof terrace café.