Central Fountain and Lily Pond
At the centre of Majorelle Garden, a large lily pond holds its own quiet logic. Carp move through the water beneath broad lily pads, and the Majorelle Blue of the surrounding architecture catches in the surface depending on the hour and the angle of the light. The pace here is different from the rest of the garden — people slow down, sit on the edge, and stay longer than they planned.
Smaller pools extend from the main pond, and a commemorative plaque to Yves Saint Laurent stands nearby, a reminder that this is also where his ashes were scattered after his death in 2008. The water and the blue together do something to the air around them.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who return to Majorelle more than once tend to make straight for the pond first, before the crowds settle in. Get here at opening — 8am — and you may have the water largely to yourself for a good twenty minutes. The carp are most visible in the morning light, and the reflections are sharper before the midday glare flattens everything.
How Central Fountain and Lily Pond came to be
Jacques Majorelle, a French painter and son of the Art Nouveau furniture-maker Louis Majorelle, began planting this garden in 1922 on a four-acre plot at the edge of a palm grove. He opened it to the public in 1947, charging admission to cover upkeep. After his death in 1962, the garden fell into gradual neglect.
In the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé restored the property, including its fountains and the intense blue — now called Majorelle Blue — that defines the water features. Saint Laurent's ashes were scattered in the garden in 2008. Since 2011, the Foundation Jardin Majorelle has managed the site.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
Spring (March–May) and autumn (late September to mid-November) offer the most comfortable conditions for lingering around the water; summer mornings work if you arrive at opening, before the heat builds. Winter days are often sunny but nights drop sharply.
Right now
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.