Spelled Marrakec in Berber from the words “mur n akush” it means “Land of God”.

On Monday 18th September my friend and I flew out to Marrakesh. Ten days previously Morocco had been hit by an earthquake of 6-8 to 6-9 magnitude. We flew to the city often referred to as “The Paris of Morocco”, with mixed feelings, a certain amount of anxiety interlaced with our usual play it by ear philosophy.
The media had reported varying degrees of destruction, depending on what media outlet you followed. What was clear was that 3,000 people had been killed and thousands were injured, and homeless.
Four days before the day Angela and I arrived architects from UNESCO had toured round the old city of Marrakesh. They reported significant destruction and as expected mounds of rubble and buildings destroyed.
The Medina founded by the Almoravid dynasty in 1060, for a number of reasons would feel the impact of an earthquake of such magnitude. The age of the dwellings, their dilapidated condition, the way they had been built and the close packed streets had all acerbated the situation.
When we hailed a cab the first morning to take us to Jemaa el Fnaa – one of the ubiquitous place for any visitor to the city. I had a fleeting thought that perhaps we were really going to a pile of rubble. But the taxi driver seemed optimistic. His main concern merely that we were visiting very early in the morning. Too early to really see the old city at it’s most vibrant and exciting best.
Undeterred we disembarked from the taxi and headed for a place to have a quick coffee for me and a mint tea for Angela. The square was quiet but yes it was early. We had planned to avoid the heat that would soon burn and sap all our resolve.
A young guy sitting at the cafe immediately asked us where we were headed for. I shrugged, we had no itinerary, this was merely a “Lets see what happens” visit.
He helpfully told us the Bahia Palace – which I had wanted to visit was closed. But he cheerfully continued to tell us the Mellah – (the Jewish Quarter) was open and the Slat Al Azama synagogue was open.
Both Angela and I were interested in the Judaic history of the city and Morocco in general and decided to head to the old Jewish Quarter: although various reports including Haaretz mentioned that the Mellah was completely devastated and in ruins.
There is a history of Jews in Morocco for 2,000 years since Roman times. Although the city of Marrakesh was founded in 1060 there are no records of the Jewish community in the city until 1232. And then after the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsular in 1492 after the Reconquista, the Sephardic Jews arrived in vast numbers to Morocco.
In 1558 the Mellah of Marrakesh was created by the decree of the Sultan Abdallah al Ghalib, established just outside the walls of the El Badi Palace. By the late 1940’s the area was over populated with 40,000 residents.
The community began to emigrate after the independent state of Israel was created in 1947, followed by the end of the French protectorate and the Six day and Yon Kippur wars. Today as we visited, the population of the Mellah was less then 200 residents. Yet ironically it is estimated in the last five years that over 80,000 visitors have traveled from Israel.
The first signs of hope were the sight of storks nesting in the ramparts of the El Badia. The storks of Marrakesh have long been the sentinels of the the old city.
They are strange looking birds described as prehistoric. It is only when they fly that you get a true sense of their majesty, soaring like a vulture with their huge wing span. As a symbol of rebirth it seemed prophetic they had survived the earthquake. The Berbers believed they could transform themselves into humans.
As Angela and I tried to take photos they looked like what they were, gawky gangling birds who had survived a catastrophe and were already recovering very well – thank you! Even if their nests looked slightly disheveled and worse for wear.
Without Google maps we had decided on an aimless stroll not sure what we would find. Were there going to be piles of rubble that would hinder and restrict our walk? However we found that the Mellah had already cleared up so much of the destruction from the earth quake.
Great fissures could be seen in walls that still stood upright but they had been vacated for obvious reasons.
It did not take long before we arrived at the only synagogue in the Old Medina still open for religious services. Situated in a narrow street that still has its old Jewish name, Rue Talmud Torah, the Slat Laazama appears from the outside a innocuous and dull looking building.
The synagogue is built in the traditional style of a riad with a a central courtyard with a fruit tree. The name Al Azama translates as “ those who ran away from Spain.” It dates from 1492 but was later rebuilt in 1956. The courtyard is decked in blue and white tiles called zellige.
Several rooms around the courtyard now serve as a museum, each room showing different aspects of Moroccan Jewish history. One has an exhibit of the Berber Jews of the Atlas Mountains. 2,000 years of Moroccan Jewish history are represented in fading colour photographs, documents and videos.
As we continued through the Mellah to the traditional spice markets for me to buy spices and especially saffron,the souk started to liven up and although not so manic as perhaps it would normally be, the locals seemed determined to get on with their lives after the earthquake.
A few days later as we took a taxi away from our hotel towards the Palmeraie we had the full sight of the storks of Marrakesh standing tall and serene in the ruins of the 16th Century Badia Palace. Storks often symbolize rebirth and new beginnings. It was easy to compare the people of Marrakesh rising back up from the ruins created by the earth quake like the storks, starting again standing tall and once again strong.