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No one could have planned the Djemaa el Fna. It is too fantastic to be
anything other than a happy accident of time, space and people. At least
since the 17th Century, this place – referred to locally as la place –
has been the heart and soul of Marrakech, a meeting place for residents
from the medina and Berbers from the mountains, Moroccans from elsewhere
in the country, expats home for a holiday and tourists from around the
world. When Queen Victoria sent a present of an elephant to the sultan
of Morocco, this was where it was displayed. When, just a hundred years
ago, the pasha of Marrakech had one of his regular settling of scores,
his enemies were executed here, their salted heads hung on the nearby
city walls. These days when the sun goes down, it is food rather than
elephants or executions that draws the crowds.