Next door
The Yves Saint Laurent Museum
What the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakesh is, how it differs from the garden and the Berber Museum, and whether to add it to a visit.
Check garden dates ↗Quick answer
The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech is a separate museum in a new building a stone's throw from the garden. It has a permanent exhibition devoted to Yves Saint Laurent's work, temporary exhibitions, a library, an auditorium, a bookshop and a café. The garden-only ticket does not include it, and the museum has its own opening days.
What it is
The museum's own website describes a museum entirely devoted to the work of Yves Saint Laurent. It occupies a new building of 4,000 square metres, very near the garden that Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought in 1980. Wikipedia says it opened to the public in October 2017, as a tribute to the designer's legacy and his links with Marrakesh. It is a fashion museum, not a garden and not a Berber collection.
What is inside
The museum's website says the building includes a permanent exhibition space of 400 square metres devoted to Yves Saint Laurent's work, designed by Christophe Martin. It also holds a hall for temporary exhibitions, a research library with over 5,000 volumes, an auditorium of 140 seats, a bookshop and a terrace café. The café, Le Studio, takes its name from the designer's workspace in Paris, the website says. What the temporary hall shows changes, so read the museum's own website for current exhibitions.
The collection
The museum's website says its collection belongs to the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent and is unique in the world of haute couture, and that the foundation's mission is to safeguard and share it. It explains that beginning in 1964 Saint Laurent set aside certain prototypes from every collection, and that sketches, workshop sheets and photographs were archived alongside them. The holdings, it says, include more than 5,000 haute couture garments.
How it relates to the garden
The garden and the museum are neighbours with a shared history. Saint Laurent and Bergé owned the villa until 2008, Wikipedia says, and after his death his ashes were scattered in the garden. The garden's own ticket site also sells the museum's tickets, where the museum is a separate choice from the garden, the garden with the Berber Museum and the combined ticket.
Adding it to your visit
The garden-only ticket does not include the museum, and the museum has its own opening days, so check them on its website before you plan the morning. The combined listing on this site's booking page covers the garden and both museums, and shows about two hours. A visitor who books garden entry only can still add the museum later, because the garden's own ticket site sells it as a separate choice. The guide to the two tickets sets the choices side by side.
Read next: Garden only, or with museums?
Who this isn't for
If fashion does not interest you, the museum will add little to a garden visit, and the Berber Museum may be the more natural pairing, since it sits in the garden's former studio. If you have only an hour, the garden alone is the better use of it. And if you want to see the museum on a particular day, confirm its opening days first on its own website, because they differ from the garden's.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Yves Saint Laurent Museum inside the garden?
No. It is a separate building a stone's throw from the garden, according to its own website.
When did it open?
Wikipedia says the museum opened to the public in October 2017.
Is it included in the garden ticket?
No. The garden-only booking page says it does not include the museum.
What is in the permanent exhibition?
The museum's website says a permanent exhibition space of 400 square metres is devoted to Yves Saint Laurent's work.
Sources