African Design Magazine ADM #35 November 2017 | Page 30
he House of Wonders, also commonly known as the Palace of
Wonders or Beit-al-Ajaib in Arab, is a famous landmark building that
is situated in Stone Town, Zanzibar. The House of Wonders was built
in 1883 by the second Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said, it is one
of six buildings Barghash built. The building is located between the
Old Fort and the Palace Museum, it is the largest and tallest building
in Stone Town and occupies a prominent space facing the Forodhani
Gardens on the old town's seafront, in Mizingani Road.
The House of Wonders was initially built as a ceremonial palace and an ofcial
reception hall that celebrates modernity. As part of its “modern” streak, this
building was the rst building in Zanzibar to have electricity and the rst
building in East Africa to have an elevator. Due to its pioneering in adapting
modernity, it was named “The House of Wonders”.
The palace was designed by a British marine engineer who introduced unique
architectural elements to the Zanzibar repertoire through this structure. The details of
the building include the wide external verandas that are supported by cast-iron
columns, which allow for incredibly high ceilings.
Although the building was built to be a “House of Wonder”, certain elements made it
a simply functional palace. The building was connected to the two adjacent palaces
Beit al-Hukum and Beit al-Sahel through covered passages that ran above street
levels, these were commonly known as wikios. These passages allowed the Royals to
move about the palaces completely unseen by outsiders.
The building has a large central covered courtyard or atrium surrounded by open
galleries. Some of the inner doors of the palace are artistically carved with inscriptions
from the Quran. The marble floors and most of the silver decorations inside were
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