DAR HASSAN PASHA
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A palace built around 1791 in Algiers, retracing the intertwining of Ottoman and French history in Algeria.
This palace is undoubtedly one of the places where the clash of the Ottoman history and that of France in Algeria remained the most palpable. Built around 1791 by the dey Hassan Pasha (1791-1798), the palace underwent numerous transformations by the French who made it the winter palace of the governor of Algiers from 1830. The white marble facade with its ogival windows and the door frame with its marble columns were designed by the architect Pierre-Auguste Guiauchain in a style inspired by the Venetian palaces, very different from the local architecture.
Even if some rooms, such as the former reception room, have been greatly distorted by the addition of fireplaces, chandeliers, mirrors and sculpted plaster, it is inside the house that we find remarkable elements of the Ottoman period, such as the Delft earthenware, the painted or carved coffered ceilings, the arcaded patio and the heavy wooden balustrades and doorframes, the dey's reception room with walls covered with 16th century earthenware tiles from Italy, Delft and Tunisia, certainly taken from older palaces.
As an inscription engraved under the cornice indicates, the patio was covered with a glass roof in 1875 under the government of General Chanzy.
It is in this palace that Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie would have stayed during their visit to Algiers in 1860 and 1865. Since the 1950s, it has been allocated to various institutions attached to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
