Sfax - Great Mosque

Rue de la Grande Mosquée, parallel to Rue Mongi Slim, leads to the Great Mosque, in the center of the Medina in Sfax. Founded in 849, it was rebuilt for the first time in the 10th/11th century and finally completed in 1759, under Turkish rule. Non-Muslims may enter only the inner courtyard. At the end of the rectangular courtyard is the nine-aisled, twelve-bayed prayer hall, its vaulting borne on antique columns. The graceful minaret, made up of three successively smaller sections and richly decorated with Kufic inscriptions and bands of ornament, is closely modeled on the one in Kairouan. Built into the wall on the east side of the mosque is a Byzantine inscription: "Grant us virtue and her companion, good fortune, that both may deck the house dedicated to Thee." The decoration of the facade dates from the Turkish period.