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House of Wonders
House of Wonders (Mizingani Road, Stone Town, Zanzibar) – this was the palace of Sultan Barghash (1837-1888), which got its name from the fact it was the first building in Zanzibar to have electricity, and the hundreds of light bulbs glowing at night must have made it truly a wondrous house. This four-story building, surrounded by wide and spacious verandas and topped by a highly visible clock tower, was built in 1883 and is one of the largest structures in Zanzibar. The clock tower also houses the port’s shipping controller.
One can walk around the outside gardens and look at the huge carved doors and the two old bronze cannons that bear Portuguese inscriptions. In 1896, the palace was the target of British bombardments intended to force the Sultan Khalid bin Barghash, who had tried to seize the throne after the death Sultan Hamad, to abdicate in favor of a British nominee. After its rebuild, Sultan Hamoud, who ruled Zanzibar from 1902 to 1911, used its upper floor as a residential palace until his death. Admission: TSH 10,000 per person. Hours: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm (daily).