Dar Jamai Museum

Dar Jamai was built in 1882 for the Jamai family, who held senior office under Sultan Moulay Hassan, and it is a full-scale late nineteenth-century Moroccan palace - courtyard, Andalusian garden with tall cypresses, painted cedar ceilings, carved plaster and a reception room upstairs furnished as it would have been. It has been a museum since 1920 and was reorganised in 2018 as the National Museum of Music, which gave it a subject: the collection now covers the instrument families and the main Moroccan traditions - Andalusian, malhoun, gnawa, Amazigh, Hassani and Judeo-Moroccan - with instruments, recordings, listening posts and explanation of who plays what and where. That is a genuinely useful thing to do before hearing any of it live. The garden is one of the better small ones in Morocco and the building alone justifies the ticket.

What you actually see

• An 1882 vizier's palace - courtyard, painted ceilings and carved plaster intact.
• The national music museum - reorganised in 2018 around Moroccan traditions.
• Traditions distinguished - Andalusian, malhoun, gnawa, Amazigh, Hassani and Judeo-Moroccan.
• An Andalusian garden - tall cypresses and planting in the courtyard.

When to go

October to April. An hour or two.

Honest expectations

Labelling is in Arabic and French with limited English. Listening posts are not always working. Entry is charged. It is small and the visit is short.

Nearby

El Hedim square is outside the door; Bab Mansour faces it.