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The Old Dispensary
 (now known as the Stone Town Cultural Centre) is a grand four story
building with a set of decorative balconies. It
served as a dispensary during colonial times but
fell into disrepair in the 1970's and 1980's. It
is one of the Stone Town buildings that has been
successfully restored, in this case with funding
from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. It can be
found on Zanzibar's seafront on Mizingani road.
More about The Old Dispensary.
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The Peace Memorial Museum
 The Peace Memorial Museum
is an interesting look at Zanzibar's history. It
has sections on archaeology, early trade,
slavery, palaces, mosques, sultans, explorers
(includes Dr Livingstone's medical chest),
missionaries, colonial administrators,
traditional crafts and household items, stamps,
coins, fishing, and clove cultivation.
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The Arab Fort
i s situated next to the House of Wonders and was
built between 1698 and 1701 by the Busaidi group
of Omani Arabs. It is a large building with
high, dark brown walls. topped by castellated
battlements. The fort is open to visitors and
now contains various shops and an open air
theatre.
There
are lots of other interesting places to visit in
Stone Town, so exploration is the order of the
day!
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 Stone Town
Stone Town is the old city and cultural heart of
Zanzibar, little has changed in the last 200
years. It is a place of winding alleys, bustling
bazaars, mosques and grand Arab houses whose
original owners vied with each other over the
extravagance of their dwellings. This
one-upmanship is particularly reflected in the
brass-studded, carved, wooden doors - there are
more than 500 different examples of this
handiwork. You can spend many idle hours and
days just wandering through the fascinating
labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways. Stone
Town was recently and deservedly declared a
World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
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The Market
is a great place to visit even if you
 don't want
to buy anything.
It is a vibrant place where
everything under the sun is bought and sold.
People bring their produce here from all over
the island, and other people come to buy things
they can't get in their own villages. Of special
interest is the huge selection of brightly coloured khangas (worn by the local women) and
the auctions that are held regularly
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 Livingstone's House
was built around 1860 for Sultan Majid, and was
used by many of the missionaries and explorers
as a starting point. Most notably, Dr David
Livingstone lived here before commencing his
last journey to the mainland interior.
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The House of Wonders
 is a very large square-shaped building, with several stories, surrounded
by tiers of pillars and balconies, and topped by
a large clock tower.
It was built in 1883 as a
ceremonial palace for Sultan Barghash and was
the first in Zanzibar to have electric light and
an electric lift.
Not surprisingly, when it was
built, the local people called it Beit el Ajaib,
meaning the House of Wonders. Today, it is still
one of the largest buildings in Zanzibar, and
there are plans to open it as the National
Museum.
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The Palace Museum
is a large white building with castellated
battlements, and was built in the late 1890's
for members of the Sultan's family. Originally
called the Sultan's
Palace, in 1911 it became the official residence
of the Sultan of Zanzibar, but following the
revolution in 1964, it was renamed the Peoples'
Palace. In 1994, the palace was turned into a
museum dedicated to the history of Zanzibar's
Sultans which necessitated a third change of
name to the Palace Museum. For the first time,
visitors can see much of the Sultans' furniture
and other possessions that
survived the revolution.
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