Royal Palace of Rabat

The 'Alawi sultans and kings have maintained a palace in Rabat since the 18th-century reign of Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah, who used Rabat as one of his imperial residences and renovated royal palaces in other cities. Towards 1785, he built a palace and a great mosque in the southwest corner of the large walled enclosure originally created by the Almohads in the late 12th century. Under French rule, a new government district for the French administration was created directly to the east of the royal palace district and adjacent to it, symbolizing the intended role of the sultan alongside the colonial rulers. Although kings had many residences at their disposal when independence was declared in 1955, they chose to keep the Dar al-Makhzen palace as the main palace of the monarch. Some monarchs, particularly Mohammed V, preferred the smaller and relatively secluded palace of Dar-es-Salaam, further out of the center of the city, maintaining the Dar al-Makhzen as their official and administrative residence. and the marriage ceremony of Mohammed VI and Salma Bennani in 2002. ==Design and construction==