The haphazard evolution of the palace becomes apparent in the eccentric route to these rooms which affords tantalizing glimpses of dark corridors, subterranean staircases and obscure sun-baked terraces. The dusty long, echoing corridor of the reception rooms provides an astonishing contrast to the massive assertive confidence of these halls. The vulgarity of the display mixes with detailed Moorish craftsmanship of the highest order to silence the visitor.

An ornate grille-window frames a significant view of the old Kasbah of Telouét on the edge of the village with barely two of its walls left standing . The old Kasbah is the size of a traditional fortress of a mountain caid and would have boasted little decoration beyond crenellated towers and motifs embossed into the pisé of the exterior walls. Inside, the rooms would most likely have been small, dark and infested. The halls of the White Kasbah of Telouét are of another order, and though now empty of furniture, the absence of rich cloth, carpet, worked metal and wood seems merely to enhance the grandeur of the interior. The roofs above are still secure and you are allowed up to enjoy the excellent view. They were once decorated with great expanses of green glazed tiles but these now lie in shattered heaps at the foot of the outer walls. On the way out the custodian may point out a large windowless room, the cinema. Edward G.Robinson was caid Brahim’s brother-in-law. The screening of the latest fantasies from California seems bizarrely appropriate in this last outlandish product of feudal grandeur.

The rest of Telouét is not officially accessible and for the pragmatically minded is securely locked up. Every year the buildings become more dangerous, but the custodians can sometimes be tactfully encouraged to take you around. For the brave, the route to the kitchens, Hammou’s Kasbah and the Harem is through another delightful maze of passages. The kitchens are vast and recognisable chiefly by there blackened walls. The mixture of soot, melting pisé and exposed beams s impressive only in its size and the imminent danger of final collapse. Telouét was entirely staffed by slaves except for one salaried French chef. Over a thousand slaves fled overnight when the news of the death of Si Thami el Glaoui reached the Kasbah.

At the heart of Telouét, physically and emotionally, was Hammou’s Kasbah, a stark, square keep formed from massive walls, dark and featureless inside. Hammou was the cousin and brother-in-law of Madani and Thami and remained violently opposed to the French, who he would not permit to enter his feudal domain. He was the caid of Telouét and ruler of the traditional mountain territory throughout the phenomenal growth in Glaoui power until his death in 1934. Stories of his occult powers blended with the grim truth of his violence, xenophobic and sadistic nature. Sloghis, hounds that could singly kill a wild boar, trailed behind each guest who entered the Kasbah like some canine thought police, while the final bloody resolution of a tribal feud too often ended at the hands of Hammou in his labyrinth cellars. These have long since collapsed to bury this grim underworld.

The harem courtyard is beyond Hammou’s Kasbah and is approached through a number of rooms. The central courtyard was equipped with large pools of water which have now cracked and drained. The cool rooms that open from this internal space, due to some trick of design, are not overlooked by any battlemented tower. Two ornamental fruit trees survive and in spring still fill this breezeless space with the scent of cherry and apricot blossom. After the initial pleasure of discovery, the languid introspection and sterility of the harem creep back to repossess the spirit of the place.

Beyond these identifiable features you can wander freely amongst the curtain walls and acres of complete ruin. Banks of pisé now and then astonish you with there range in height that hints at some past extravagant form. Fragments of carved cedar, carved foliate arabesques and shattered tiles can be glimpsed deeply buried in what first appears to be just leached soil.

It may seem extraordinary that such a place as Telouét should not be better preserved, but for a Moroccan Telouét is a monument to treason on a vast scale. The Glaoui were totally identified with the most extreme French colonial ambition right up to 1956. Si Thami el Glaoui was deeply involved in the deposition of Mohammed V, and his officials had extorted and stolen for years. Allied with the French, they had hunted down those who worked for Independence and fought against the Liberation Army"