Mahdia - Black Gate

(Local Name: Skifa el Kahla) The entrance to the old town of Mahdia is through the town gate, the Skifa el Kahla (Black Gate) or Bab Zouila. The gatehouse with its 44m/144ft long entrance passage was formerly incorporated in the 11m/36ft thick wall, 175m/190yds long, which crossed the peninsula. The present gate is not the original Fatimid structure but was rebuilt in 1554 after the destruction of Mahdia by the Spaniards, using stone from the Fatimid fortress. Of the original round towers, on polygonal bases, which stood at the north and south ends of the wall there remain only stumps at the north end. The residential quarter of Zouila lay to the west of the fortress. Here too were the souks, of which no trace