Tunis Medina

About Tunis Medina

Old city of Tunis, Tunisia

The Medina of Tunis, the old city at the heart of the capital, sits on a rise above the lake and stretches about three kilometres from Bab el Falla and Bab Aleoua in the south to Bab Saadoun in the north, and from Bab el Bhar in the east to the Kasbah in the west. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, it holds some 700 monuments: palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains from many periods. It was founded in 698 around the Zitouna Mosque and grew through the Middle Ages along a main axis from the mosque west to the Kasbah, the seat of government, and east to Bab el Bhar, later spreading north and south into the suburbs of Bab Souika and Bab el Jazira. Under the Almohads Tunis became capital of Ifriqiya, and under the Hafsids it flourished as a religious, intellectual and commercial centre, taking the shape we know today, with buildings blending Ifriqiyan, Andalusian and Eastern styles. Its great pleasure is the covered souqs arranged by trade around the Great Mosque, the perfume souq, the chechia makers' souq, Souq el Berka for gold, and the Turkish souq, and its winding lanes of studded blue and yellow doors and palaces such as Dar Ben Abdallah and Dar Lasram.

Where:

Tunis, Tunisia