The Mendoub's Residence or Dar al-Mandub ( ar, قصر مندوب, french: Palais du Mendoub), formerly known as the Forbes Museum of Tangier, is a cultural monument and property located on Mohammed Tazi Street in the Marshan neighborhood of

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

History

Residence of the ''Mendoub''

The governance of the

Tangier International Zone The Tangier International Zone ( ''Minṭaqat Ṭanja ad-Dawliyya'', , es, Zona Internacional de Tánger) was a international zone centered on the city of Tangier, Morocco, which existed from 1924 until its reintegration into independent Moroc ...

was entrusted to an administrator appointed by the colonial powers and a personal representative of the

Sultan of Morocco This is the list of rulers of Morocco, since the establishment of the state in 789. The common and formal titles of these rulers has varied, depending on the time period. Since 1957, the designation King has been used. The present King of Moroc ...

, who from 1923 was known as the

Mendoub The Mendoub or Mandub ( ar, مندوب, "delegate" or "representative") was a key official in the governance of the Tangier International Zone between 1925 and 1956, with a wartime interruption from 1941 to 1945. He represented the authority of ...

. The main office of the Mendoub was in the former German consulate, or

Mendoubia The Mendoubia or Mandubiyya ( es, Mendubía) refers to the former residence and office of the Mendoub, the representative of the Sultan of Morocco in the Tangier International Zone from 1924 to 1956 (with interruption during World War II). It no ...

. The Mendoub Palace was built as a residence in 1929 by Mendoub Mohammed Tazi.

Forbes Museum

The property was purchased in 1970 by

Malcolm Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes'' magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism ...

, the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

publisher of ''

Forbes magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also repo ...

'', who converted it into a museum. The museum had a collection of a total of 115,000 models of

toy soldier A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve c ...

s. These figures re-enacted the major battles of history; from

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

to Dien Bien Phû, realistically recreated with lighting and

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

. Entire armies stood on guard in the showcases, while in the garden, 600 statuettes bear silent homage to the

Battle of Three Kings A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. The collection contained pieces from the figurine manufacturers

Britains Britains, earlier known by the founder's name W. Britain, is a British toy brand and former manufacturing company known for its die-cast toy, die-cast scale models of agricultural machinery, and figurines. The company was established in 1893 as a t ...

, C.B.G. Mignot, George Heyde, Elastolin and Lineol, Barclay and Manoil. Among the many battles reenacted, the collection also contained historic events such as the funeral cortege of JFK. The toy soldiers collection was curated and built by Peter and Ann Johnson.Christa Worthington
Forbes: he had 10,000 men
''Independent.co.uk'', 14 December 1997 After the museum closed in the 1990s, 60,000 pieces of the toy soldiers collection were auctioned in December 1997 by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in New York and South Kensington. Auctions went from $150 to $12,000 a set. Total sales from the auction amounted to $700,000. The

Forbes Galleries The Forbes Galleries, housed within the Forbes Building on Fifth Avenue between West 12th and 13th Streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, was the home of Malcolm Forbes' collection, which the Fo ...

in New York City today has parts of the Tangier toy soldiers collection on display.

Official guests residence

After Forbes' death in 1990, the property was put up for sale by his children and purchased by the government of Morocco, which uses it as a dependence of the Marshan Palace across the street and as a residence for official guests. For example, French President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

stayed there when visiting Tangier in September 2015. It is no longer open to the public.

In popular culture

The Forbes Museum was chosen for the villain's lair for the 1987 James Bond Film ''

The Living Daylights ''The Living Daylights'' is a 1987 spy film, the fifteenth entry in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by John Glen, the film's ...

'' starring Timothy Dalton.The Last of the Forbes Toy Soldiers
''Ipower.com'', 5 October 2012

References

External links

Description
on ''Morocco.com'' {{coord, 35, 47, 28.99, N, 5, 49, 29.49, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Tangier Military and war museums in Morocco Palaces in Morocco