Kairouan - Aghlabid Basins

To the north of the Kasbah in Kairouan, beyond the Avenue de la République, are the Aghlabid Basins (restored 1969). These two pools (originally there were more) stored water for the Aghlabid palace which occupied the site of the present-day cemetery. The water was brought by an aqueduct from Djebel Cherichera, 36km/ 22mi away. The smaller basin (17-sided, 37m/121ft in diameter) was a settling tank, from which the water flowed into the larger one (48-sided, 128m/420ft in diameter, 10m/33ft deep), which had a capacity of 50,000cu.m/11 million gallons. In the center of the larger pool is the base of a pavilion in which the Aghlabid rulers used to relax.

Another pool has been discovered farther to the west.