QASR ECH-SHAB (PEOPLE'S PALACE)

The great golden dome of the People's Palace appears behind a garden planted with palm trees, at the end of M'Garief street. King Idriss made his palace in Tripoli after independence. It is now a general library for students, managed by the "Academy of Jamahiri Thought". It is possible to visit the reading rooms located in the first part of the old palace, where you may be offered a copy of the Green Paper!

Originally, it was intended to serve as a residence for Italian governors. It was part of a large project to extend the Italian city to the south-east, including the construction of the cathedral of the current place of Algeria, large hotels on the seafront such as Hotel El-Waddan, and a trendy neighborhood. The palace was commanded by the Venetian financier Giuseppe Volpi, which governed Libya from 1921 to 1925. Satisfying both the character's pride and the architectural canons then underway in colonial Italy, its architecture was designed to present a synthesis of Italian and Mediterranean styles from the model of Venice's Basilica of Saint-Marc, with Moorish architectural influences.

The financial crisis of the real estate that hit Tripoli from 1925 did not allow the palace to finish before the early 1930 s. This delay led to the wrath of his new critics. Thus, the harsh judgment that the new Governor Emilio De Bono made in 1927 is nothing less than a harsh criticism of his predecessor Giuseppe Volpi. He describes the building as having «the aspect of these grandiose buildings willed by a indulgent who, then lying short of money and without credit, presents his dream to God. However, this is hardly to the advantage of the seat of the person (even unworthily) representing the Government and the King in the colony.» Moreover, at the time of the completion of the palace, the rationalist architecture, judged more in keeping with the image that fascism wished to give, was fureur in the Italian colonies. The palace was therefore strongly condemned from 1929 by supporters of colonial rationalist architecture, many of whom believed that Italian architecture had to reflect the grandeur of Imperial Rome while the imitation of the Moorish style was clumsy and referred to colonized people a poor image of colonial power. As for the original function of the palace, it was only a short time since the Italian Governor Balbo established the residence of Governors in Tripoli Castle since 1934.