El Mechouar Palace

Mechouar Palace (Arabic: قصر المشور) or the Zianide Royal Palace is the former official residence of the Zayyanid dynasty in the city of Tlemcen, Algeria. The palace is situated in the middle of the city, and used to be part of the greater Mechouar Citadel (Arabic: قلعة المشور) of which the historic defensive walls are the only major element preserved. During the Zayyanid period, the palace consisted of multiple buildings and courtyard residences. One of these courtyard structures was completely rebuilt in 2010–2011 over its former ruins and is accessible today. The nearby mosque, Mechouar Mosque, no longer exist on its original form as well except for its minaret. It was one of the main sights during the selection of Tlemcen as the Capital of Islamic Culture in 2011.

Text adapted from “El Mechouar Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

El Mechouar Palace ranks #2,089 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #4 of the 15 mapped in Algeria. Founded 1248, it is older than 73% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,703 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. See how Algeria compares in the castle statistics.

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