Sultans' rooms
Original furniture.
Willem van der Horst — CC BY 2.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Luganosamwel — CC BY-SA 4.0
A white palace with crenellated walls on the Stone Town waterfront, home to the sultans of Zanzibar of the Omani Al Busaid dynasty in the late nineteenth century. After the 1964 revolution it was renamed the People's Palace, and it later became a museum of the sultans and their families. You walk through halls and rooms with their original furnishings: the sultans' beds and chairs, European clocks, cabinets and mirrors, and old photographs of the ruling family and of Zanzibar in its golden age, with displays on the history of the link between Zanzibar and Oman. One room is devoted to Sayyida Salme, daughter of Sultan Said bin Sultan, who left Zanzibar in 1866 with a German merchant and married him, then wrote her famous memoirs of palace life in Zanzibar, among the first memoirs written by an Arab woman. The palace garden holds a small cemetery with the graves of several sultans. Visitor guides say the museum closes on Sundays, and the ticket usually includes a guide.
Original furniture.
A princess who wrote memoirs.
In the garden.
Mizingani Road, on the Stone Town waterfront
House of Wonders (Beit al-Ajaib)Stone Town's most famous and tallest building, a ceremonial palace built by Sult2 minutes walk3.8
Forodhani Gardens and Night MarketA seafront garden in front of the Old Fort and the House of Wonders, Stone Town'2 minutes walk4.3
Old Fort of ZanzibarThe oldest standing building in Stone Town, a fort with high walls and crenellat3 minutes walk3.9
Hamamni Persian BathsPublic baths built in the late nineteenth century by Sultan Barghash bin Said in4 minutes walk3.5
Stone TownZanzibar's old town, a maze of narrow lanes and coral-stone houses blending Oman4 minutes walkA daughter of Sultan Said bin Sultan who left Zanzibar in 1866 and wrote memoirs of palace life; the museum has a room devoted to her.