Sousse - Catacombs
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On the western outskirts of Sousse is a large complex of Early Christian catacombs discovered in 1888.
This maze of underground passages and chambers was hewn from the soft local rock between the second and fourth centuries, probably on the site of an earlier pagan necropolis. (The word catacomb comes from the name of an old Roman burial-place on the Via Appia outside Rome.) Of the four main shafts three have been excavated. Finds from the site are in the Museum. A total of some 15,000 people were buried, wrapped in shrouds, in niches in the walls of the catacombs, often hewn in tiers one above the other and closed by tiles or marble plaques. Only small sections of the catacombs - the roofs of which have to be supported on props because of the danger of collapse - are open to the public: the Catacombs of the Good Shepherd (Catacombes du Bon Pasteur; 1.6km/1mile long, with 6,000 tombs; late third century), of Hermes (2,500 tombs; third century) and Severus (5,000 tombs; early fourth century).
Access
Leave on Rue du 15 Octobre, opposite Bab el Gharbi, which runs west in the direction of Sfax and Kairouan; turn right off this street into Rue du 25 Juillet 1957; in 300m/330yds turn left into Rue Abou Hamed el Ghazali and in another 300m, at a mosque, left again. The entrance to the Catacombs is immediately before a tall radio aerial.
This maze of underground passages and chambers was hewn from the soft local rock between the second and fourth centuries, probably on the site of an earlier pagan necropolis. (The word catacomb comes from the name of an old Roman burial-place on the Via Appia outside Rome.) Of the four main shafts three have been excavated. Finds from the site are in the Museum. A total of some 15,000 people were buried, wrapped in shrouds, in niches in the walls of the catacombs, often hewn in tiers one above the other and closed by tiles or marble plaques. Only small sections of the catacombs - the roofs of which have to be supported on props because of the danger of collapse - are open to the public: the Catacombs of the Good Shepherd (Catacombes du Bon Pasteur; 1.6km/1mile long, with 6,000 tombs; late third century), of Hermes (2,500 tombs; third century) and Severus (5,000 tombs; early fourth century).
Access
Leave on Rue du 15 Octobre, opposite Bab el Gharbi, which runs west in the direction of Sfax and Kairouan; turn right off this street into Rue du 25 Juillet 1957; in 300m/330yds turn left into Rue Abou Hamed el Ghazali and in another 300m, at a mosque, left again. The entrance to the Catacombs is immediately before a tall radio aerial.
Tips: To visit them, apply to the Museum.
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