The 17th Century sultan Moulay Ishmail dreamed of creating a royal capital to rival Versailles
The former royal city of Meknes is yet another unexpected delight this country has to offer. One of Morocco’s most beautiful historical cities, its 22-kilometers of town wall, its monumental gates and the ruins of an immense palatial complex, form an impressive and curious backdrop for the nexus of Morocco’s main roads. The 17th Century sultan Moulay Ishmail dreamed of creating a royal capital here to rival Versailles. Thus, he employed an army of bricklayers, black slaves and several hundred captured Christian slaves, to build a 120km long town wall, in addition to dream palaces, stables for 12,000 horses, hanging gardens watered by a four-hectare pond, and immense storage sheds. After almost a century of construction, he left behind one of the most beautiful cities ever constructed in Moorish-Arabic style.
