The House of Wonders

In the heart of Zanzibar's Stone Town, the House of Wonders stands upon an old site. It is said to be located on the site of the 17th-century palace of Zanzibari queen Fatuma. In 1883, Barghash bin Said, the second Sultan of Zanzibar, built a structure that would become a landmark. With wide external verandas supported by cast-iron columns and uniquely high ceilings, the palace was the first building in Zanzibar to have electricity and the first in East Africa to have an elevator.

The palace, which originally functioned as a ceremonial palace and official reception hall for the Sultan, boasts a design attributed to a British marine engineer. Inside, some of the inner doors are beautifully carved with inscriptions from the Quran, while marble floors and most of the silver decorations imported from Europe are reminders of the palace's status and wealth.

Even though it was built to house the Sultan and his harem, the palace was designed for functionality and modernity. It featured covered passages called wikios which connected the House of Wonders to the adjacent palaces Beit al-Hukum and Beit al-Sahel, allowing the royal ladies to move about unseen.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons