Palais des Rais

The Palais des Rais, also called Bastion 23, is a group of three Ottoman palaces of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and a row of six houses built against the old sea wall at the foot of the Casbah, the last surviving fragment of the waterfront quarter that was cleared in the nineteenth century. Restored over many years and reopened as a cultural centre, it gives the clearest surviving picture of how the wealthy houses of Ottoman Algiers worked: courtyards with columns and glazed tile dados, galleries on two levels, painted wooden ceilings, small rooms opening off the court and terraces looking at the sea. It lies within the Casbah World Heritage area.

History

In 1576 Ramdhan Pasha built the Borj El-Rais, the Tower of the Rais, to strengthen the defences of the lower town. Over time the buildings served as the residence of the commander of civil engineering, a girls' boarding school, an office of the US consulate, a residence for the Duke of Aumale and a municipal library, while the restructuring of the lower Casbah in the French period cut the quarter off from its old surroundings. Bastion 23 was classified as a historical monument in 1909, as the "group of Moorish houses"; restored from 1987 to 1993, it opened on 1 November 1994 as the Centre for Arts and Culture (Wikipedia, Palais des Rais).

What's there

• Ottoman courtyard houses - columns, tile dados and two-level galleries.
• Painted wooden ceilings - the decorated interiors of the palaces.
• The old sea wall - the bastion the buildings are built against.
• Terraces over the water - the seaward side of the complex.

When to go

October to May. Two hours. Opening hours are set and it closes on some days; check before travelling. Exhibitions use parts of the complex.

Things to know

Some rooms are closed for works or exhibitions and access varies. Labelling is sparse and largely untranslated. The seafront road outside is heavily trafficked and unpleasant to walk. Photography rules vary by room.

Nearby

The Casbah rises directly behind; Place des Martyrs lies east.

Key facts