The Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, Morocco: Yves Saint Laurent's blue heaven

July 3, 1:00 PMSF Global Getaways ExaminerLisa Alpine

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 Marrakech is an imperial city that has attracted monarchs over the centuries, even the king of fashion.

Our guide, Youssef, says, "From Matisse to Yves Saint Laurent, French artists have promoted and incorporated Moroccan design since our independence in 1956."

The Majorelle Garden is a public botanical garden in Marrakech that was designed by French artist Jacques Majorelle in 1924, during the colonial period when Morocco was a protectorate of France. The unique color of electric cobalt blue that he used extensively in the garden and its buildings is named after him, bleu Majorelle.

The garden has been open to the public since 1947 though it fell into ruin. Since 1980 the garden has been owned by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.

They discovered their love of all things Moroccan in 1966. The visit, Bergé said, began with a week of rain and ended with the purchase of the house and ultimately the restoration of the Majorelle Gardens, named for the French painter and his chosen hue of blue.

Saint Laurent himself described how he embraced the inspiration of the light and colors of Marrakech, its "insolent mixes" and "ardent inventions." "But I wasn't content with importing this culture," he said. "I annexed, transformed and adapted it."

Bergé said Saint Laurent took the essence of the Moroccan Djellaba, a type of caftan gown, the color and light of Marrakech, and incorporated it in his work.

The BBC's James Copnall said, "the Majorelle Gardens  are a striking and stylish area of respite from the heat of Marrakech and a fitting final resting place for Saint Laurent." The ashes of the fashion designer were scattered in the garden after he died of a brain tumor in 2008, aged 71.

At the memorial ceremony, Bergé, paid a tribute to his partner: "You could have slid into fashions at times," he said, "but instead you remained faithful to your own style, and you were quite right, for that style is now everywhere, perhaps not in fashion, but in the streets of the whole world." Most especially in their compound at the Majorelle Gardens where the luminous blue cannot be duplicated since Saint Laurent took the recipe with him to the celestial blue heavens when he passed.

The garden hosts more than 15 bird species, which can be found only in this region of North Africa.

Youssef looks up at the palms and says, "Birds are the symphony of the gods."

Details, details . . .

Majorelle Gardens also houses a café that is a delightful cool place to have lunch, and the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, whose collection includes North African textiles from Saint Laurent's personal collection as well as ceramics, jewelry, and paintings by Majorelle.

The gardens and Islamic Art Museum are open year round.  The price is 30 dh (3€)

Photos & text by Lisa Alpine