AMERICAN LEGATION MUSEUM

An interesting museum, where old maps, paintings of contemporary painters or copies of famous paintings are exposed. One goes there especially for the charm of the place, its atmosphere of another time. In 1777, Morocco was the first country to officially recognize the independence of the United States of America by Moulay Abdellah. As a symbol of this new friendship, Sultan Moulay Slimane offered this house in Tangier to the American diplomatic mission in 1821. This legation was transformed into a museum in 1956, now managed by a private foundation based in Washington. In memory of this historic connection, U.S. President Eisenhower was also the first to recognize Morocco's independence in 1956, and personally traveled to Rabat for the occasion. The museum is a huge residence of forty rooms, furnished in the style of the ^nineteenth century. One can wander through the white carpeted rooms. The second house was bought in 1890 by an American consul, Maxwell Blake, who donated it to the United States. Crossing the passageway over the alley linking the two parts, one can notice the contrast between the two buildings: the first, European and the second, Moroccan, with its moucharabiehs to see without being seen. One room is dedicated to Paul Bowles, the adventurous novelist, author of Tea in the Sahara, who died in Tangier in 1999. The museum also houses the only English-language library in Morocco.