PALACE OF RAÏS - CENTER OF ARTS AND CULTURE
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Palace built in the century, home to an arts and culture center that organizes temporary exhibitions.
A rare vestige of the extension of the Kasbah to the sea during the Ottoman period, the Raïs Palace is a complex of three palaces (17, 18 and 23) and six douérates (fishermen's houses) built on the site of a 16th century fort.
Palace 18, which is of the greatest architectural interest, was built in the second half of the 18th century by the Raïs Arnaout Mami and then acquired in 1798 by the dey Mustapha Pacha.
At the beginning of the French occupation, the palace became the residence of the rear-admiral in charge of the management of the port, then later the American consulate, a boarding school for young girls, the residence of the Duke of Aumale and, finally, the municipal library, before being abandoned, looted and squatted by Algerian families after 1962. Saved from imminent destruction, the palace has been restored and since 1994 has housed the Center for Arts and Culture, which organizes temporary exhibitions, museum activities and shows on the "battery" (red terrace) open to the sea.
The visit can begin with the Palace 18, which is accessed by entering the vestibule(sqifa), where some panels present the history of the Lower Kasbah and its evolution.
The rest of the visit reveals the patio(wast eddar), the galleries(shine), the rooms(byoutes on the first floor and ghrofs on the first floor), the bathroom (hammam), the kitchen(khiama), the terrace(menzah). The decorative elements: arches, marble columns, wooden doors, tiles, ceilings are representative of Moorish art. In Les byoutes et ghrofs, photos of the emblematic places of the Kasbah are exhibited, as well as reproductions of daily scenes or traditional clothing from the Ottoman period, and also models of typical dwellings of the old city. The palaces 17 and 23, more modest, formerly intended for the servants, welcome today very regularly beautiful exhibitions of artists (photographers, plastic artists, painters...) Algerian and foreign. You will discover the douerates by taking the sabat (covered passage). Harmoniously aligned, they were the houses of sailors and fishermen.
Badly restored for some specialists, the Palais des Raïs has the interest to present to the public a global vision of a vast urban complex of the Ottoman period and to reveal many original elements as the magnificent ceilings in carved wood.
On peut aussi y profiter d'une belle vue sur la mer et d'un peu de fraicheur.