Maison de la Photographie in Marrakech: collections and rooftop terrace

Updated on October 1, 2026

The Maison de la Photographie de Marrakech (House of Photography) is a private museum opened in 2009 by two collectors, Patrick Manac'h and Hamid Mergani, in a restored former fondouk in the northern part of the medina, near the Ben Youssef Madrasa. It shows Morocco as photographers, famous or anonymous, saw it between the late 19th century and 1960: albumen prints, glass plates, autochromes, postcards and documents. The exhibitions, spread over several floors around a courtyard, change regularly and draw on thousands of items: portraits, scenes of daily life, Atlas landscapes, old views of Marrakech. The visit ends on a rooftop terrace laid out as a café, overlooking the rooftops of the medina.

Highlights

The courtyard and its galleries

The building is arranged around a narrow courtyard, where a climbing plant reaches up to the upper floors. Galleries with openwork railings lead to the exhibition rooms.

The old portraits

The ground floor often hosts large-format portraits, which change from one exhibition to the next. Men and women from the cities and the mountains appear just as photographers captured them a century ago.

Daniel Chicault's film

The museum screens a colour documentary shot in the 1950s by Daniel Chicault on life in the Amazigh villages of the High Atlas, presented as one of the first colour films made in Morocco.

The terrace

On the top floor, the terrace café serves drinks and light meals. The view takes in the rooftops of the medina and, on clear days, the peaks of the Atlas.

Infos pratiques

Tips

Admission costs 80 MAD for an adult, 50 MAD for residents of Morocco, and is free for under-15s (prices checked in October 2026). Tickets are not sold online but on site, in cash or by card, and they also give access to the Musée de la Musique, the former Mouassine Museum. Allow an hour for the visit, plus time for a break on the terrace.

How to get there

46, rue Ahl Fès (rue Souk el-Fassi), Marrakech medina, a few minutes' walk from the Ben Youssef Madrasa. On foot: about 15 to 20 minutes from Jemaa el-Fna square, crossing the souks northwards to the Ben Youssef area.