Sousse - Great Mosque

Just inside the Medina in Sousse stands the fortress-like Great Mosque, built in 851, a few years after the re-foundation of the town by the Aghlabids, on the model of the Sidi Oqba Mosque in Kairouan. Following recent restoration work the exterior has recovered its original appearance.

The mosque originally had two defensive towers which in earlier centuries guarded the harbor. The domes of the minarets were later additions. An unusual feature is the external staircase leading up from the courtyard to the minaret. The battlemented walls of the courtyard, which is surrounded on three sides by a colonnade of tall horseshoe arches borne on massive piers, are decorated with an elaborate Kufic frieze. The arcade in front of the