The palace, decorated with materials imported from numerous countries ranging from Italy to Mali, was used for receptions and designed to showcase the Sultan's wealth and power.

[1][4] Ahmad al-Mansur may have chosen the name due to his own reputed piety, but also to reflect his intention to create a superlative palace to impress guests.

[4]: 393–394 Prior to the reign of the Saadian sultan Moulay Abdallah al-Ghalib (ruled 1557-1574), the rulers of Marrakesh resided in the old Kasbah (citadel) built by the Almohad dynasty in the late 12th and early 13th century.

[4][3] The El Badi Palace proper, however, was constructed by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur al-Dhahabi (ruled 1578-1603) at the height of the Saadian dynasty's power.

[3] In 1590 al-Mansur launched military expeditions to the south which resulted in the conquest of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali and the defeat of the Songhai Empire.

[3] Al-Mansur was so involved in making sure that work continued efficiently that he even provided child care for his workers in order to ensure they were not distracted by other priorities.

[3] Materials were also imported from multiple regions and foreign countries, including marble columns fabricated in Italy and lime and plaster from Timbuktu.

An early assessment of the damage found major cracks in the walls of the palace's exhibition rooms and in the area where the modern bathrooms are located.

[12][13] The Saadian palaces formed a complex built inside the vast kasbah (citadel) on the south side of the city, originally laid out during the Almohad period under Caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur.

[3] One curious feature inside the palace complex was a tall tower which is prominently depicted in descriptions of Marrakesh during the Saadian period but which was missing in the later Alaouite era.

Of uncertain origin, this structure may have been a private observation tower dating from either the Almohad or Saadian dynasty, used for the enjoyment of the sultan and similar to smaller elevated lookouts present in some aristocratic mansions in Marrakesh and Fes.

[17][3] "Al-Quba al-Khamsiniya" is also the title of a poem by Abd al-Aziz al-Fishtali, poet laureate of Sultan Ahmed al-Mansur's court.

[3]: 268 The pavilion on the eastern side of the courtyard (no longer standing today) was known as the Qubbat az-Zujaj (Arabic: قبة الزجاج, lit.

[3] Aside from the pavilions, the rest of the courtyard's perimeter was lined with a gallery featuring "lambrequin" or "muqarnas"-profiled arches similar to those seen in the Court of the Lions and in other Moroccan Architecture.

[3]: 268 The floors were paved with marble and zellij (mosaic tilework), the ceilings and capitals of the columns were gilded, and the walls were covered in intricately-carved stucco with calligraphic inscriptions.

[3] The fragments of zellij which have been uncovered in modern excavations in the palace show that the Saadian craftsmen had created geometric patterns of even greater complexity than those of previous periods, including examples of twenty-pointed stars.