Tangier American Legation Museum (TALIM)

The Tangier American Legation Museum, officially known as the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM), is one of the most historically significant cultural institutions in Morocco and the only US National Historic Landmark located in a foreign country. The five-storey building in the heart of Tangier’s medina on Rue d’Amérique was gifted to the United States by Sultan Moulay Suliman in 1821, following the signing of the 1786 Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, which remains one of the oldest treaties still in force in American history. The building served as the US diplomatic mission to Morocco for 140 years before being converted into a museum, cultural centre, and research library in 1976 by the nonprofit Tangier-American Legation Museum Society. Today, TALIM’s museum galleries display an extraordinary collection of historical maps, engravings, aquatints, and paintings related to the history of US-Moroccan relations. Highlights include the so-called Moroccan Mona Lisa, a hypnotic portrait of Zohra by Scottish artist James McBey, a ceremonial Moroccan carpet featuring an American Stars and Stripes design, an 1839 diplomatic letter about two lions given as gifts, and a dedicated wing on American author Paul Bowles, who lived in Tangier for decades. TALIM is also home to one of the most important research libraries on Morocco, comprising 8,000 volumes and accessible by appointment. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM.