Agdal Gardens
The name Agdal is a polysemic term derived from Tamazight (Berber) meaning a "walled meadow" or a summer pasture for transhumance.
[8] Historian Gaston Deverdun also cites historical sources indicating that the walls were still not connected to the Kasbah during the later Saadian period.
The same Spanish study has argued that the overall layout of the Dar al-Hana complex, with the reservoir and its residential pavilion located on its middle axis to the south, dates back to the original Almohad design.
The main water channel which supplied the gardens also entered the reservoir from the south on this same axis, possibly passing through the residential palace.
[5][7] Historical sources also mention that the Al-Masarra gardens were open to the public and to all of the city's citizens, a tradition which continues to the present day.
[2] The pleasure palace of Dar al-Hana, built on the south side of the largest reservoir, is also clearly mentioned and described for the first time in historical sources for the Saadian period.
Its monumental riad-like design was similar in some respects to the more famous El Badi Palace in the Kasbah, and it is named as one of Al-Mansur's great works in historical sources.
Ahmad al-Mansur also appears to have reinforced the water reservoir by encasing it with thicker outer walls, which also elevated the walkway along its edge.
Muhammad ibn Abdallah was responsible for rebuilding the royal palace in the Kasbah and extending it southwards, bringing it closer to the Agdal.
The presence or remains of other internal walls within the Agdal today may correspond to the different phases of restoration and expansion during this period.
[2][8] The outer western walls of the Agdal were also partly rebuilt in his time following an attack by the Rehamna tribe, whom the sultan afterwards ordered to repair the damage.
[5]: 529 In 1862-63 Muhammad also built a new pleasure kiosk in the middle of the Jnan ar-Redwan, the garden area in the northwestern corner of the enclosure.
[3][5]: 529 The Dar al-Bayda palace, which was begun earlier, was expanded and completed in its current form by Sultan Moulay Hassan (ruled 1873–1894) after 1883.
[5]: 494 [3] Moulay Hassan, who took interest in introducing new modern technologies in his kingdom, also added several industrial buildings within the garden estates.
It was rebuilt, redesigned, and partly expanded by French architect André Paccard (who worked for King Hassan II) in the 1970s or 1980s, which resulted in the current structure standing on this site.
The sultan's stables were housed in a structure a short distance to the southwest of this, which consists of nine long vaulted halls subdivided by rows of arches.
[8] The residential pavilion itself is likely built on the site of the former Saadian palace of Ahmad al-Mansur, with some minor remains of the latter being integrated into the present-day building.
It fell into ruin in turn during the 20th century, until in the 1970s or 1980s King Hassan II had a French architect, André Paccard, rebuild the pavilion.
[9][citation needed] Dar al-Bayda, the principal palace inside the gardens, comprises a complex of structures within its own wall enclosure.
The main 18th-century palace structure, which was later expanded by Moulay Hassan in the late 19th century, consists of three courtyards arranged from north to south, each with a different layout.
It was originally had a central water basin as well, but its most distinctive features are the two square pavilion towers rising from its western corners, each topped by a green-tiled pyramidal roof, and a large eight-sided kiosk in the middle between them.
This kiosk, the Qubbat al-Ghana'im ("Dome of the Spoils"), rises to an eight-sided pointed cupola, and is surrounded at ground level by an enveloping portico or gallery.
