Jemaa el Fna (The Place of Dead) Marrakech

At the center of Medina, the famous Djemâa el Fna square is situated, which is the heartbeat of Marrakech. The name of Jemaa el Fna (The Place of Dead), Marrakech has many interpretations: as Djemâa means, "meeting place" and el Fna means "the end" or "death," it could be translated as "Mosque of Death" or "Meeting Place at the End of the World." Nowadays Jemaa el Fna is a tourist spot, but in the past, the Djemâa's purpose was horrific: it was the place for public viewings of the disengaged heads of sinners, criminals, and Christians, hung on stakes around the square.

Presently, the Jemaa el Fna (The Place of Dead), Marrakech is a place of the endless, seething carnival, which covers every activity of man. It is a gathering place of local farmers and tradesmen. Jemaa el Fna is a wide area bordered with small mosques and a series of cafés, all with rooftop terraces that permit a panoramic bird's-eye view. From early morning, when Marrakech is waking up, until midnight, when most people have gone to bed, the dissonance never stops. In the market of Jemaa el Fna, stuffs are sale with the open-air entertainment, which includes elaborate sagas (sometimes with men dressed as women) that hypnotize the mass; cobra charmers with strident flutes; wild Gnaouan acrobats, dancers, and musicians with incompatible cymbals; and intermingling of monkey tamers, fortune-tellers, henna ladies, tooth pullers, and astrologers.

The best time to observe the Djemâa is sunset, when the entire square turns purple, orange, or deep pink and adopts its smoky nighttime radiance from the hundreds of gas lamps that light the still-sizzling food stalls. You can rove Jemaa el Fna (The Place of Dead), Marrakech for hours, but be armed.