Image Gallery of Qaṣr Āl Riḍwān (also Qaṣr al-Bāshā), Daraj / Barjiliyya, Gaza
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This two-storey building was probably a former residence of the Āl Riḍwān governors in the 17th century. Today it houses the Qaṣr al-Bāshā Museum. It was built sometime between the 12th and 17th century AD. So far it could be dated more precisely, due to the lack of an inscription. The building is made of sand stone and old Roman marble pillars and stones. It was known by different names during the late Ottoman period: "Dār al-Saʿāda" and "Dabūya" (a name said to have been derived from its administrative function; see also Gatt's map of 1887). It has also been called "Qalʿat Nābulyūn", Napoleon's Fort, because Bonaparte stayed there during his invasion of Palestine in 1799. During the Mandate period, it was known as "Sarāyā". (The name "Dār al-Bāshā" is not mentioned in Mubayyid, Binayat.) Since the early 1950s, due to a decision of the Egyptian government, the building has served as an administrative building for a girls' highschool. (See, Mubayyid, 1995, pp. 396.)
Information from Visit Palestine website http://visitpalestine.ps/where-to-go/listing/gaza/sites-attractions-gaza/archeological-sites-gaza/qasr-al-basha-qasr-al-radwan/(accessed 22 February 2018):
"Qasr Al Basha is an old fortress located on Al Wehda Street in Gaza City. It is not known when Qasr Al Basha was first constructed, but the style of the entrance, along with the construction of the interior, suggest that it was during the Mamluk period. A local legend states that it was built by the 13th century Mamluk Sultan Baybars for a Gazan woman that he met, fell in love with, and married. The sides of the fortress are a more recent construction and date back to the 17th century, when the Ottoman Governor (Pasha) of Gaza, Sheikh Radwan, lived there. This is where the fortress draws its name Qasr Al Basha, or as it is also known Qasr Al Radwan. The palace is also sometimes referred to as the Napoleonic Fort, because it is believed that Napoleon spent a few nights here prior to his military offences against Jaffa and Akka.
More recently, the fortress served as a police headquarters during the British Mandate and was then turned into a girl’s school under the Egyptians. Recently the UNDP, with funding from the German Development Bank and under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, constructed a new building to house the girl’s school and the fortress has been carefully renovated to serve as the national museum of Gaza."
