Angela Merkel was expected on Sunday evening. Other leading politicians and UN representatives are staying in these days in the Hotel La Mamounia. During the conference, the signing of the UN-Migrationspakts in Marrakech, the Mamounia is once again fully booked, although a room can cost 600 euros and the Suite is more than 5000 Euro. In the flying change of actors such as Robert de Niro and Daniel Brühl to the Finale of the film festival on Saturday evening were the politicians and diplomats of space. In the dim light of the Bars, and in the garden, where the oranges are harvested, they discussed the final details of the UN-Pact.
Hans-Christian Rößler
Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, with its headquarters in Madrid.
F. A. Z.
Who is holding on to something, descends in the Moroccan city in the Mamounia. It is more than just a Five-star Hotel. Recently, Architectural Digest has “recorded” it on his list of “seven most historically significant Hotels in the world”. But now the tradition of the house excited for other reasons causing a stir: The Moroccan government wants to privatize the Mamounia in the next year. The hoped-for 300 million euros to the benefit of the social budget. Some of the Moroccans could not believe that their government wants to sell the Mamounia, the compare with the Eiffel tower and the Palace of Versailles; it was inseparably connected with the myth of Marrakech and don’t deserve the Annex of an international hotel chain to his name.
in fact, there is no lack of luxury Hotels in Marrakech. But for many, the Mamounia to the Moroccan national heritage, as well as the many other attractions. Nearly four million visitors came in 2018 in the city on the edge of the Atlas mountains. The most prominent of which is to be expected that the government will take you in the Mamounia – the Oriental hospitality costs, according to the state, which was for the North African country is expensive.
The Rolling Stones lived there as well as Edith Piaf, Nelson Mandela, Tom Cruise, and Winston Churchill. The British Prime Minister, fled from the wet and cold British winters to Marrakech to paint there. During the conference in Casablanca he took in 1943, the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a trip to Marrakech “the most lovely spot in the world”, as he called the city. Even after the end of the war, from rose Churchill was often in the Hotel. In the evening he moved from balcony to balcony, to keep track of the sunsets that fascinated him particularly. Several pictures he painted in the extensive gardens. The Hotel also served as a film backdrop. The American Director Alfred Hitchcock made “The man who knew too much” with Doris Day and James Stewart. Was previously incurred on the property “Morocco” with Marlene Dietrich.
In comparison to the century-old oasis city of the Mamounia is relatively young. The plot bears the name of Prince Moulay Mamoun, the fourth son of the Sultan Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah in the 18th. Century, reigned. In his lifetime, it is the custom that the ruler gave his sons as a wedding gift a lush garden and a house outside the Kasbah. There festivals are to be celebrated, the “one thousand and one night” worthy. In 1922, the architect Henri Prost and Antonio Marchisio received the contract to build the eponymous Hotel. The Order came from the state-owned railway company, which holds today the largest part of the shares. At the time, a good house was missing in the vicinity of the station.
The architects combined traditional Moroccan architecture with Art Deco. Initially, there were only 50 rooms, today the house has 137 rooms and 71 suites. In 1986 and again in 2010, it was gently the Mamounia, but fundamentally renovated and got its present face. Didn’t like all of the other regulars. The French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his Partner Pierre Bergé from the side of the Hotel, its Bars and Restaurants they had visited earlier. As there at once, tourists showed up in shorts and sandals, were you.
Allegedly, the lengthy renovations in recent years have bestowed the Mamounia losses, which encouraged the government to sell a stake of 51 percent. Currently, the national Railways company, a state-controlled investment funds, and the city of Marrakech are the owners. Hassan II, the father of the current king Mohamed VI, had begun in the nineties with the first privatizations. They have brought the state Treasury so far, more than ten billion euros. The Moroccan king himself does not live in Marrakech at the Mamounia. He has a own Palace. Due to the pleasant climate of Hassan II spent particularly much time, Marrakech was at times as the secret capital.
