Author
The governor of Tangier, Ahmed Al-Rifi, supervised the works, and the palace was allocated an official residence for him.
Author Original
قام حاكم طنجة، أحمد الريفي، بالإشراف على الأعمال، وخصص القصر سكناً رسمياً له
Publication Date
AH 11th - 12th century / AD 17th century
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;18;ar
Library Location
Tangier, Morocco
Date
AH 11th - 12th century / AD 17th century
Notes
Mawla Ismail, based on his awareness of the growing importance of Tangier on the international level, both diplomatically and commercially, gave orders to the governor of the city, Ahmed Al-Rifi, to build a complete Kasbah, which would include a palace, annexes, a mosque, stables, a court, and a prison. Although the mosque was greatly distorted due to successive changes, in particular those that took place in 1921, the palace has preserved its originality and original features, despite the restoration operations that took place in 1889 AD, on the occasion of the visit of Sultan Hassan I (who ruled in the period 1290 - 1312 AH / 1873 - 1894 AD), visiting Tangier, who made This city is the diplomatic capital of the Kingdom, and a place for the residence of European consuls. The palace consists of three parts, which are the princely residence with a garden and annexes (the Great House), the apartment on the first floor (the Dome of Sidi al-Bukhari), and the official hall called the House of Money. The princely residence, built on a rectangular ground, includes seven rooms distributed around a courtyard tiled with tiles, in the middle of which is an octagonal cistern, containing a water fountain. Marble. The courtyard is surrounded by a colonnade with columns, the capitals of which are composite, carved in Italy by a supplier to the palace in Constantinople, and decorated with crescents, the emblem of the Ottomans. The southern and northern wings of the colonnade contain tile panels. The two main halls of the dwelling are arranged in an elongated shape, and include two beds at their ends, dug in the middle of a cavity decorated with an arch and a dome, both of which are made of wood decorated with muqarnas. The walls of these halls are covered with mosaics and carved plaster with recurring geometric and written decorative elements. The apartment located on the first floor consists of two rooms and a courtyard. The entire building was decorated with tiles and gypsum carved into a grid. There is also an inscription made of carved tiles in the apartment, reproducing a poetic passage. The celebration hall is accessed through a hallway consisting of three arches, overlooking a door with two wooden arches, painted with geometric decorative designs, and two iron clad panels. A frieze of wood decorated with muqarnas surmounts the unadorned walls, while a dome of wood, painted and decorated with interlacing of star plates, adorns the ceiling. The palace currently occupies, Regional Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum.
Sample Text
Kamal Lakhdar “Kasbah Palace” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;18;ar
