Moroccan riad been bought by foreigners. This foreign interest has brought new challenges but the investment has helped with the restoration of the UNESCO site and has helped revive many of the handcrafts and artisan trades that were gradually being lost before this trend. Many of the restored riads in the districts of Mouassine and Lakssour offer the finest examples of restoration as historically these areas contained many of the grand palaces from Marrakech's Saadian period. Moroccan riad A riad () is a type of traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. The word riad originates from the
Courtyard the ground floor, with private rooms located upstairs. The central uncovered area in a Roman domus was referred to as an "atrium". Today, we generally use the term "courtyard" to refer to such an area, reserving the word "atrium" to describe a glass-covered courtyard. Roman atrium houses were built side by side along the street. They were one-storey homes without windows that took in light from the entrance and from the central atrium. The hearth, which used to inhabit the centre of the home, was relocated, and the Roman atrium most often contained a central pool used to collect rainwater,