I took the first photo in the fall of 2021. The next two come from the instagram of Maha Alessa

This historic building in Kuwait City was built by Sheikh Khaz’al of Muhammarah, a friend of Sheikh Mubarak, in 1916. According to Ali Karimi it was, “constructed out of mudblock and coral stone, the diwan stood in stark contrast to the courtyard architecture of the Arab Gulf countries. With its drum towers, verandas, and elaborate arches, the diwan echoed the architecture of Khazal’s Arabistan as well as French and British colonial architecture in Iran.” After Sheikh Khazal’s death, his widow continued to live here. Freya Stark went to visit her in 1937 and wrote in her work Baghdad Sketches,

“it crumbles away slowly in the sun, while a young Persian widow lives inside it… like a princess in a fairy tale, still young but so poor that she will scarce marry again. Here and there in the empty rooms some trace can still be seen of former bustle, an old barouche in the entrance, glass ornaments and painful coloured fancies, mattresses piled high for guests, and brass-bound coffers. The young widow sits dressed in black with high-heeled shoes on a stiff chair, and feeds her guests with sherbert, pistachios, and melon seeds, her pretty little whimsical face smiling with a natural cheerfulness inexplicable to the European mind.”

From Kuwait by the First Photographers and The Kuwait Urbanization by Saba George Shiber

From 1957 to 1976, the building served as the Kuwait National Museum. In 1960, Kuwait launched an architectural competition for the design of a new National Museum. French architect Michel Ecochard won and his design was completed in 1983. After the diwan was no longer the National Museum, it began to deteriorate.

From the instagram of Ali Al Rais, Iridescent Kuwait, Maha Alessa’s instagram, Voice of the Oud, this blog post, Ali Al Rais, Al-Kuwayt, haqa’iq wa-ma’lumat [Kuwait, facts and information] published by the Ministry of Guidance and Information in 1965

Across the street are the ruins of the Al Ghanim house, also built by Sheikh Khaz’al around 1915. It, too, was in ruins but in 2022, a controversial renovation project began. In his work Glimpses of Kuwait, Tareq Rajab writes that, “[the] Diwaniyat al-Shaikh Khaza’al is situated to the east of Beit al-Ghanim or the Harem of the palace complex. A stretch of land originally separated them and this later became a main street leading from Dasman Palace round-about to the sea front next to the British Embassy. The Diwaniyah which became Kuwait Museum differs from any architectural style known in Kuwait and was built to look like a fort with four round towers and open colonnades (verandas) on all sides.” The photo below was taken by Rajab in 1961.

The Al Ghanim House and Khaz’al Diwan are both near the British Embassy, which was built in 1935. On the old map of Kuwait below, you can see a small illustration of the site when it was still the National Museum. Nearby is #45, the British Embassy. According to this map, both the American and Soviet embassies were also nearby.

Here you can see old photos of the British embassy, which come from Kuwait by the First Photographers, postcard dates to the 1950s, and The Kuwait Urbanization by Saba George Shiber.

Here is a postcard that was listed for sale on eBay, the seller dated it to the 1950s

The palace complex was further damaged during the invasion, which you can see below. It is currently on the tentative list to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

From the instagram of Ali Al Rais and Getty Images

Here are photographs of a tour of the ruined diwan in 2012 from this flickr account.

Here is a postcard an account on eBay is selling using the image I took of the ruins and Kuwait Towers in 2021: