NEWS FLASH MARRAKESH

After a three-year, $176 million makeover, the Mamounia  opens its doors  again for business on the 29th of September in the oasis gardens of Marrakech in southern Morocco.

A top French interior designer, Jacques Garcia, has refurbished its rooms in Art Deco and Arabo-Andalusian styles, star-studded chefs have opened restaurants, and a sprawling spa has been added to the 20-acre gardens of palm and olive trees to lure once again the rich and the famous to this legendary hotel set inside the Medieval ramparts of a world heritage site.

The Mamounia has been the haunt for celebrities like the Rolling Stones, Charlie Chaplin, Sharon Stone and many other Hollywood stars for nearly a century.Winston Churchill invited Franklin Roosevelt here to relax following strategic talks during World War II.  Alfred Hitchcock shot some of "The Man Who Knew Too Much " in the hotel's lobby..

"There are only three golden rules about a palace of this standing  .Elegance, elegance, and elegance."
Built in 1923 when Morocco was a French protectorate, the Mamounia merges the sober lines of Art Deco architecture with the intricacies of traditional arabesque decorations. The hotel has long been considered the masterpiece of this fusion of styles, unique to a handful of Moroccan buildings.

"It's a very rare balance," Garcia said ,”Restoring such a place is like touching a myth, the goal is to come back to the sources of that myth and give the impression that every thing here is a masterpiece."