Majorelle Gardens Foundation Partners with French Museums to Strengthen Moroccan Amazigh Collections

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Majorelle Gardens Berber Museum Amazigh Collection, Marrakech

The Majorelle Gardens Foundation, based in Marrakech, is partnering with French Museums to strengthen their Moroccan Amazigh Collections. The goal is to highlight the rich and diverse body of Morocco’s Amazigh Heritage.  The plans include the documentation of artifacts in each collection and to offer detailed identification of shared resources to help expand their network. In addition, the MuCEM and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris are scheduled to collaborate through shared exhibitions in Marseille and Marrakech. The collaboration between these teams will improve the communication and skills of museums and their respective curators.

The Majorelle Garden (Jardin Majorelle) previously the Jardin Bou Saf, was designed by the French expatriate artist Jacques Majorelle in 1924. Jacques Majorelle was the son of the celebrated Art Nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy in 1901 and later in 1919 he went to Marrakech, Morocco to recover from heart problems. He built the garden during those years using a special color of blue which he used extensively in the garden that is named after him, Majorelle Blue. Jacques Majorelle returned to France in 1962 after a car incident and died later that year of complications from his injuries. Even though Morocco is no longer under the French protectorate, this originally French creation is one of the most beloved areas in Morocco.

The Yves Saint Laurent Berber Museum was inaugurated in 2011 under the patronage of King Mohammed VI in Majorelle’s former painting studio.  More than 600 objects, collected from the Rif Mountains to the Sahara by Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent, attest to the richness and diversity of this vibrant culture, which is still very much alive today. The museum is dedicated to Berber traditions, displaying costumes, craftwork, jewels & musical instruments.

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Majorelle Gardens Berber Museum Amazigh Jewelry Collection

“The Berbers have always been rightly proud of their culture, and have not ceased to reclaim their identity in spite of the vicissitudes they have faced. In Marrakech, in Berber country, in the Jardin Majorelle, which was created by an artist who painted so many scenes of Berber men and women, the idea of this museum occurred to us quite naturally.” – Pierre Bergé