Glaoui Palace

About Glaoui Palace

Palace in Fez, Morocco

Dar Glaoui, often called by its French name Palais Glaoui, is a large mansion in the south-western part of Fes el-Bali, in a quarter of old notable houses. It was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and belonged to the Glaoui family, the most powerful clan of southern Morocco in that era, above all the grand vizier Madani and his brother Thami, pasha of Marrakech, who stayed here when in Fez. Today the palace is in a state of beautiful decay: a sequence of courtyards and patios, halls with painted wooden ceilings, zellij and carved stucco walls worn by time, interior gardens and fountains, stables and servants' wings. A family living on site sometimes receives visitors and shows them around. That very decay is what makes it different from the restored palaces: it feels like walking into a real house where time stopped, and you grasp the wealth and power the family held before independence.

Where:

Fez, Morocco