It was recently opened by two charming enthusiasts of photography and Marrakech, Patrick Manac’h and Hamid Mergani, who have, over the last fifteen years, feverishly collected over 3,500 historical photos and old portraits from Morocco. Between them they have built up an extraordinary collection of striking photographic images that meticulously document a bygone era from 1862 to 1950.
There are a wealth of new commercial galleries now in Marrakech offering beautiful arty photographs of Morocco and collectible reprints, but none offer such a distinct and varied range as Maison de la Photographie. The reprints they sell from their private collection housed in the museum are something else. There is a rare beauty and sense of antiquity to them – often taken as original shots by pioneering photographers at a time when Morocco was effectively off limits and closed to Europeans.
Furthermore, their limited reprints, which are available in a number of sizes, are absolutely affordable, even if beautifully mounted and framed by Patrick and Hamid. This is in stark contrast to the city's other photographic galleries.
For me, these photographs make for wonderful decorative pieces that naturally compliment riads and enhance the exoticism of their interiors.
The museum itself is free. It is a lovely haven and space to browse. It is set in a restored foundouk in the heart of the Medina.
The breadth of its photographs is fabulous.
All of the celebrated and old iconic photographers who installed themselves in Morocco are well represented. These include the Scottish photographers and editors George Washington Wilson and James Valentine; Adolf de Meyer, who was renowned for developing the American Pictorialism movement; and Gabriel Veyre, who was a partner of the brothers Lumière – the original inventors of photography, to name but a few.
Then there are an array of photographs originating from the well heeled on their Grand tours – (i.e. young gentlemen embarking on a voyage of cultural discovery), explorers, and early anthropology and scientific missions, like those undertaken by the famous French archaeologist Lamartinière.
Altogether the photographs that have been amassed offer a unique record of an exotic and romantic period in time when Morocco was, in effect, an isolated bubble. They forecast the history of Morocco of the 1860's onward through pictures of street scenes, portraiture, architectural images, tribes people and landscapes.
For Patrick Manac’h and Hamid Mergani it was a long held ambition to open Maison de la Photographie. There is no other photographic museum of this kind, either here in Marrakech or elsewhere, offering a perspective on Morocco’s rich history and past, and for this reason, they were keen to display their collection.
They felt it was important to help foster a better understanding of this country and offer a window onto a period of time that might otherwise be forgotten.
There are also several other interesting and noteworthy aspects to Maison de la Photographie that provide the museum with more breadth. In addition to their permanent collections, they continually put on new exhibitions, there is a library on Moroccan architecture, as well as a research facility, including film archives, memorabilia and bibliographies.
Lastly, an entire floor is dedicated to the Berbers and Berber traditions. The museum boasts a unique film archive on indigenous tribes people and every Friday night in a screening room, old colour documentaries from 1957 by film-maker Daniel Chicault are played on mountain tribes from the High Atlas.
If you would care for more information on either the photographs available at Maison de la Photographie, or its museum, here are its contact details: - 
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