A Look Inside Morocco’s First Contemporary Art Museum

Photos provided by the Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art

Morocco opened its first contemporary art museum last week in Rabat. The Mohammed VI Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art (MMVI) is Morocco's first large-scale museum built since the country's independence from France in 1956. The three-floor building, whose designers were influenced by traditional Moroccan architecture, took a decade to construct. The museum’s first exhibit, “1914–2014: 100 Years of Creation," explores a century of Moroccan art with over 400 pieces by 200 Moroccan artists, including Hassan Hajjaj, Safaa Erruas, Younes Rahmoun, Batoul Shimi, Mounir Fatmi, Lamia Naji, Abbes Saladi, Mohamed Sarghini, Meriem Meziane, Mohamed Hamri, Tayeb Lahlou, and Ahmed Yacoubi.

MMVI celebrated its opening on Tuesday, October 7th, with an inauguration attended by the museum's namesake King Mohammed VI, and a screening of Moroccan filmmaker Nour-Eddine Lakhmari's documentary on the museum's creation. It then opened its doors to the public on Thursday, October 9th. MMVI is open every day (except Tuesday) from 10am to 6pm. Follow them on facebook and twitter for more info. See the gallery above for a look inside the museum and watch Nour-Eddine Lakhmari's short clip below.