The “Moorish Town” became one of the main attractions at the exhibition held in Paris in 1878 thanks largely to the proportions of the Trocadéro. Here, the Islamic architectural additions surprised audiences when they saw two great towers, inspired by minarets, among an eclectic context of other styles that ranged from Byzantine to Roman, from Greek to Renaissance.

The magazine text describes the large tent built in the Trocadéro Park within the area of the Algerian Pavilion. “These Turkish people are very beautiful. … from the warlike race of Kabili”. These people, employed as “living props”, were surrounded by the noise of hammers and the continual coming and going of visitors inside the large Algerian tent.

A curious and amusing place at the Paris exhibition of 1878 is being reported here: a semi-circular hall has been arranged as an “Oriental coffee shop” where a Tunisian quartet plays instruments typical of the Arab and Ottoman “East”. The coffee shop, like the theatres that put on shows of typical dance performances of the “Orient”, became one of the must-go places for visitors.

Sometimes in these picture postcards produced to document the exhibits without crowding them with visitors, the “Cairo Street” is animated by the presence of “character types” who stand “proudly” outside their designated areas.