3-065-838 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The King of Ashantee's Palace at Coomassie, viewed from the east, 1874. The British Army in West Africa. 'The palace of King Coffee Calcallee...is the only building at Coomassie [ie Kumasi] partly constructed of stone and having two stories...The leaves strewn on the ground in front, and the sticks, pots, and pans, are all fetish, to keep out intruders or ill luck. So is the white piece of sheeting, with a straw hat, slung between two poles under a thatched canopy...The upper rooms were filled with an oddly mixed collection of furniture, ornaments, and nick-nacks, some of European, some of native African, some of Arab or Moorish manufacture'. The Aban Palace at Kumasi, royal residence of the Asantehene, was destroyed during the British invasion. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.