The Great Mosque or Olive-Tree Mosque (Djemaa ez Zitouna) in Tunis is the most important mosque in Tunisia after the Sidi Oqba Mosque in Kairouan. Even though non-Muslims may not enter the prayer hall it is well worth looking into the impressive inner courtyard (open daily, except Fridays, 8-11am).
The building of the mosque was begun by the Omayyads in 732. In 864 it was completely rebuilt by the Aghlabids, presumably because it was found to be too small, and in subsequent centuries it was repeatedly altered.
The dome over the central bay was added in 991, the library in 1419. The vestibule was built by the Turks in 1637, the ceilings in the interior renewed in 1782. In the 19th century the minaret was increased in height by 44m/144ft; there is a magnificent view from the top over the roofs of the Medina. The fifteen-aisled prayer hall is six bays deep. Beautiful horseshoe arches supporting the fine timber ceiling are borne on columns, most of them antique.
The mihrab, under a beautiful dome of the Zirid period, is a masterpiece of Oriental carving. The floor is covered not with carpets but with esparto-grass mats. The large crystal chandeliers came from Murano (Italy). Adjoining the mosque are the premises of its college of theology and Islamic law, which once ranked with the El Azhar Mosque in Cairo and the Kairaouine University in Fez as one of the leading centers of Islamic teaching. Since the foundation of the National University in 1960 it has declined in importance.
Souks
The mosque is surrounded on three sides by souks - a maze of streets and lanes, mostly roofed over, in which the shops are generally grouped by trades. A walk through the souks with their variety of exotic aromas and colors and their constant bustle of activity is part of the Tunisian experience for all visitors.
Roof terraces
It is well worth climbing to one of the roof terraces, paved with fine old tiles, over the carpet shops in the Souk el Leffa (for example the Palais d'Orient at No. 58) for the sake of the view over the Medina to the Great Mosque.
Souk el Attarine
On the north side of the mosque is the 13th century Souk el Attarine, the souk of the perfume-dealers, with the fine north doorway of the mosque, Bab el Bouhour (1081), borne on two columns. On the other side of the mosque (the qibla wall) is the Souk de la Laine, the souk of the woolen merchants, in which is the oldest doorway of the mosque (ninth century), framed in fragments of Roman friezes. From the Souk de la Laine Rue des Libraires runs south to the souk of the booksellers. At the far end of the street, on right, is the beautiful Medersa es Slimaniya, with a fine entrance and inner courtyard of 1754. On the west side of the mosque lies the 15th century Souk el Koumach, the souk of the cloth merchants. The Souk el Attarine joins the Souk el Trouk, the old Turkish souk, in which is the old- established Cafe Mrabet. The Souk de la Laine leads into the Souk el Leffa (carpet and blanket dealers), from which the Souk el Berka runs north to the old slave market, in a square with a dome borne on striped red and green columns.
Lapidarium/Sidi Bou Khrissan
The Souk el Leffa and its continuation Souk Sekkajine (the souk of the saddlers) lead southwest to the Lapidarium of Sidi Bou Khrissan, at the corner of Rue Ben Mahmoud. In an inner courtyard is the mausoleum of two Beni Khorasan emirs, dated by an inscription to 1093. Round the courtyard are numbers of inscribed funerary stelae of the ninth-19th centuries.
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