Zanzibar Stone Town Projects

Following the restoration of Baltit Fort in Northern Pakistan, the Old Dispensary in Zanzibar is the second major historic building restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture since its establishment of the Historic Cities Programme in 1992. As in the case of Baltit Fort, the Zanzibar restoration project was complemented by a wider urban planning and conservation effort, with a view to guiding and controlling future development in the sensitive area of the Stone Town. A cosmopolitan city which developed and flourished in the context of Arab and European marine trade, Zanzibar has now become an attractive tourist destination, and the Stone Town is subject to increasing pressure as a result of modern development. The planning surveys and proposals, carried out in close co-operation with the Zanzibar Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority on the basis of earlier efforts sponsored by UNCHS Habitat (United Nations Conference for Human Settlements), are presented in this brochure in summary form, since a separate monograph entitled Zanzibar: A Plan for the Historic Stone Town has been published by the Trust.