Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Palace

I visited this site in late february 2023.The Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber Palace (Diwan Khaz'aal) was incredibly difficult to find....why???

Well,first of all it is fenced off,but that is not the real reason why it is so inaccessible.

First things first. the palace,or better its ruins,are clearly visible from the viewing platform of one of the water towers (3 towers near the ocean and in front of the Kuwait Aqua Park) near the Dasman Palace. In the water tower in which the viewing platform is located, there is also a restaurant underneath. I saw a notice that there would be a buffet the next day for the equivalent of €35. I immediately reserved a table for myself. The water towers are also a tentative world heritage site. What could be nicer than dining in a perhaps future world heritage site?

From the ground the perspective is totally different. The day before I had wandered around helplessly without finding the palace. Google maps is too imprecise and inaccurate. I had even asked a group of young locals in tennis clothes (the indians and other foreign workers are of no help as they are not familiar with the history of Kuwait).
, who had just been getting out of some luxury cars if they knew where the palace was. They had never heard of this palace. They had tried to help me by researching on the internet where the palace was . They had been quite surprised when they …

Close to the Kuwait Towers lies the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Palace. It is displayed on maps as the Diwan Khazaal, named after the Khazaal family to which this historic house and guest house belonged in the early 20th century. Later on it was converted by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jabir Al- Sabah (hence the full name) to his residence and it became the first national museum of Kuwait. The two-storey building, partly built of coral stone, is said to have been the most magnificent building of Kuwait City in its time.

The building was heavily bombed by the Iraqis during the Gulf War and has still not been restored. That did not stop the Kuwaiti authorities to promote it to the Tentative List in 2015. I walked past it on my way from the hotel, and found it totally fenced off and hidden behind a cardboard wall. Fortunately it can be seen very well from the viewing platform of the Kuwait Towers: it’s the ruin with the four corner towers.

This is only one of the ruins that is still visible in Kuwait City: it amazed me that several buildings in the city center have been left in such a bad state.