Saadian Tombs

Anyone who says you can’t take it with you hasn’t seen the Saadian Tombs. Saadian Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour ed-Dahbi spared no expense on his tomb, importing Italian Carrara marble and gilding honeycomb muqarnas (plasterwork) archways with pure gold to make the Chamber of the 12 Pillars a suitably glorious final resting place. This Marrakshi Midas played favourites even in death, keeping alpha-male princes handy in the Chamber of the Three Niches, and relegating to garden plots some 170 chancellors and wives – all overshadowed by his mother’s large mausoleum with intricate woodwork spandrels in the courtyard, exposed to the elements but vigilantly guarded by stray cats.