Le Jardin Secret

Le Jardin Secret occupies a historic riad compound in the heart of the Medina, reached through a narrow derb that gives no indication of the scale of what lies behind the entrance gate. The garden was originally laid out in the sixteenth century as part of a larger palatial complex; it fell into decades of neglect before a careful restoration returned it to something close to its historical form. Two distinct gardens occupy the compound: an Islamic garden organized around axial paths and central fountains, with planting arranged in the geometric symmetry that characterizes the tradition, and an exotic garden where species from across the world are assembled with a more romantic logic. Between them is a water tower, the historical engineering that fed the fountains, now itself one of the site's most interesting structures. A narrow riad building runs along one side of the compound, presenting a sequence of rooms that illustrate how the historical residence would have functioned. The rooftop terrace at the top of the water tower looks out over the Medina toward the Koutoubia minaret, a view that puts the scale of the old city in perspective. The garden is one of the few places in the Medina where sustained quiet is actually possible at midday. The restoration was completed in 2016 following several years of archaeological and archival research. Restoration at this scale is rarely visible to visitors, but here the historical research behind returning a historic garden to its sixteenth-century form has been made accessible in the site's interpretive materials.