The walls which once enclosed the Medina in Tunis long since disappeared, apart from a few town gates, and their place has been taken by a ring of streets around the old town, which is in the form of an oval measuring 1,500m/1,640yds from north to south by 800m/880yds from east to west. It is the largest Medina in Tunisia and the finest after the Medina of Kairouan. Originally going back to the ninth-11th centuries, it dates in its present form largely from the Hafsid (13th century) and Turkish (17th-18th century) periods. The French demolished its outer walls but left it otherwise unchanged.
Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis bisects Avenue de Paris, which runs north, lined by modern shops, into Avenue de la Liberté and so to the Parc du Belvédère, and Avenue de Carthage, which runs south, passing the railroad station in Place Barcelone, to the Djellaz cemetery.
Rue du Persan and Rue des Juges in Tunis lead into Rue des Forgerons (Street of the Smiths), which runs southwest to Bab Djedid, Tunis's oldest town gate (1276).
On the far side of the Place de l'Indépendance in Tunis is the narrower Avenue de France, which ends at the entrance to the Medina, the Bab el Bahr (Sea Gate), formerly called the Porte de France, which has remained unchanged since its erection in 1848. The old town walls of the Hafsid period have disappeared. Before entering the Medina it is worth while looking briefly along Rue Charles de Gaulle to the left.
Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis runs into Place de l'Indépendance, at the north end of which is the Cathedral of St-Vincent-de-Paul (1882), whose massive neo-Romanesque facade seems out of place at the gates of the Oriental old town. The Cathedral is the largest surviving building of the colonial period in Tunis. It contains the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Front view of the Cathedral of St-Vincent-de-Paul in Tunis.
In Rue Sidi Kassem in Tunis, which runs southwest off Rue des Teinturiers, is Dar Ben Abdallah, an 18th century palace which is now occupied by a folk museum, the Musée du Patrimoine Traditionnel de la Ville de Tunis. The exhibits include faience, stucco ornament, costumes and furniture.
Rue Ben Mahmoud in Tunis joins Rue Sidi Bou Khrissan, which leads to the little Place du Château. In this square is Dar Hussein, an 18th century Arab palace, much altered in the 19th century, with a beautiful inner courtyard, which now houses the National Institute of Archeology and Art. Only the courtyard is open to the public.
Dar el Bey in Tunis is a palace built about 1800 and altered in 1876, when it became the residence of the Bey of Tunis. It is now occupied by the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry.
Rue des Teinturiers in Tunis leads north to the Dyers' Mosque (Mosquée des Teinturiers; known locally as the Djemaa el Djedid, the New Mosque), which with the associated medersa was built in 1715 by the founder of the Husseinite dynasty. It was modeled on the Sidi Youssef Mosque and, like it, has a slender octagonal minaret. The interior has beautiful carved woodwork.
In Place du Château in Tunis is the El Ksar Mosque, which dates from 1106. It has a striking minaret in Hispano-Mauresque style (1647; restored 1978-79).
At the intersection of the Rue Charles de Gaulle in Tunis with Rue d'Allemagne is the Fondouk el Ghalla, a large colonial-style market hall, where a lively and colorful foodstuffs market is held in the morning.
Opposite the Cathedral in Tunis is the French Embassy, formerly the seat of the French Resident-General. Between these two relics of the French colonial presence in Tunisia can be seen a statue of Tunis's most celebrated citizen, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406).
A few yards along Rue Djemaa ez Zitouna in Tunis, on the left (No. 14), is the former Eglise de Ste-Croix (Holy Cross Church), founded in 1662 by a French chaplain named Jean Le Vacher, in the first fondouk (a warehouse and inn for European merchants) established in Tunis.
Rue du Château in Tunis leads to Boulevard Bab Menara, one of the ring of streets round the Medina. Along this street to the north (right) can be seen the square minaret (1235), with typical Andalusian/Moorish interlace decoration, of the Kasbah or Almohad Mosque. The minaret dates back to the 13th century Hafsid Kasbah, which was demolished soon after Tunisia became independent. The mosque is usually closed.
On the Belvédère hill in Tunis stands the Koubba, an elegant pavilion with shell vaulting and magnificent stucco decoration. This light and airy 17th century building, which originally belonged to a palace in La Manouba district, was re-erected here in 1901.
The Mausoleum of Hammouda Pacha in Tunis is a square building with a green-tiled pyramidal roof (1665). Adjoining is the Mosque of Hammouda Pacha (c. 1665), which has an octagonal minaret in Syrian style, one of the finest minarets in Tunis.
In Boulevard du 9 Avril in Tunis, is the Mausoleum of Sidi Kassem el Zilliji (15th century, considerably enlarged in 18th century), with a dome faced with green tiles, which now houses a small Ceramic Museum, together with an exhibition on the development of the Kufic script and a collection of funerary stelae.
In Place de la Kasbah in Tunis are the massive headquarters of the Neo-Destour party and the Musée du 9 Avril (history of the Tunisian independence movement).
The central axis of the new town of Tunis between the Medina and the Harbor which was developed during the period of French occupation is Avenue Habib Bourguiba. This magnificent avenue, planted with palms and eucalyptus trees, heads eastward in a dead straight line from Place de l'Indépendance, just outside the old town, towards the harbor, where it joins the expressway which crosses the Lake of Tunis on the causeway to La Goulette. On the harbor is the TGM station (services to the northeastern suburbs of La Goulette, Carthage, Sidi Bou Said and La Marsa).
Front view of the Cathedral of St-Vincent-de-Paul in Tunis.
The showrooms of ONAT (Organization Nationale de l'Artisanat Tunisien) in Tunis, display a wide range of Tunisian craft products for sale. Here too are three popular Tunis rendezvous, the Cafe de Paris, Cafe de Tunis and Brasserie Tunisia International.
In the north of Tunis is the Parc du Belvédère, laid out on the slopes of a hill (88m/289ft) and planted with Aleppo pines, carob-trees, olives, figs and palms. From the two summits of the hill, which are reached on well-kept paths, are fine views of the city and the Lake of Tunis, extending in clear weather to Carthage, the double peak of Bou Kornine and Cap Bon.
Half way along Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis, at the intersection with the palm-shaded Avenue Mohammed V, which runs north to the Parc du Belvédère, is Place d'Afrique, with a clock monument symbolizing the "post-Bourguiba era" on a site previously occupied by an equestrian statue of President Bourguiba. This is a good starting-point for a tour of the town.
Opposite the Kasbah Mosque in Tunis is the Tourbet Laz, a small building with a tiled dome. Beyond it lies the Place du Gouvernement, in which are numerous government offices.
On the east side of Dar el Bey in Tunis is the Souk el Bey, off which opens the Souk des Chechias (Souk ech Chaouachiya), occupied since time immemorial by the makers of the woolen caps known as chechias. The craft was brought to Tunisia by Muslim refugees from Andalusia in the early 17th century. The Souk des Chechias leads to Rue Sidi Ben Arous, named after the founder of a puritanical brotherhood who after his death in 1463 was buried in the zaouia at No. 23.
In the Rue Charles de Gaulle in Tunis is the Head Post Office, an imposing colonial building, which also houses the Stamp Museum (Musée des Timbres), an interesting collection of stamps and postal equipment (entrance in Rue Gamal Abdel Nasser; same opening hours as the post office).
The starting-point of this tour of the northern Medina in Tunis is Place Bab Souika, once the capital's place of execution and now the center of a large new district of the town.
At the intersection of Rue Sidi Kassem and Rue Tourbet in Tunis rises the massive Tourbet el Bey (1758), crowned by a huge dome. This is the burial-place of almost all the rulers of the Husseinite dynasty (1705-1957).
The house at No. 33 Rue Tourbet is said to have been the birthplace in 1332 of Ibn Khaldun.
Within the Parc du Belvédère in Tunis is the Zoo (Parc Zoologique), which is of interest not only for its animals but also for its luxuriant subtropical vegetation.
Also in the park is a 17th century midha (ablutions fountain), formerly in the Souk el Trouk (Turks' Souk).
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Le Bardo - Bardo National Museum
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Medina, Tunis
Mosaics, Tunis
Medina, Tunis
Medina, Tunis
Medina, Tunis
Le Bardo - Bardo National Museum, Tunis
Mosaics, Tunis
