Exploring the Medina
Inside the walls, this Medina used to be the city. Where people lived, worked, shopped, etc. The water from the Mediterranean used to come farther inland, near this site. It is a maze of windy alleys, yelling vendors, small dark shops, doors, smells and sounds! This has been here since the 8th century and to think of all the thousands of feet who have walked over the thick cobblestones before you.
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| This is the main square as you enter the medina. |
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The original gate to the entrance of the medina. There used
to be the sea just a little ways farther. |
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You see women wearing all types of clothing. Most have their heads covered, but they may have on modern attire.
Notice the armed policeman. |
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| The buildings are in various stages of disrepair. |
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| Wonderful lamp shops. |
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There is a large section for weddings. This
is some type of formal dress for a wedding. |
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This is now a government office although
I can't recall which one. |
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| The arched doors are stunning. |
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| You are now entering a different dimension in time... |
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| The large mosque, right in the center. |
Bits and pieces from the UNESCO World Heritage Site:
"Located in a fertile plain region of north-eastern Tunisia, and a few kilometres from the sea, the Medina of Tunis is one of the first Arabo-Muslim towns of the Maghreb (698 A.D.). Under the Almohads and the Hafsids, from the 12th to the 16th century, Tunis was considered one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the Arab world. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, new powers endowed the city with numerous palaces and residences, great mosques, zaouias and madrasas.
The inscribed property covers an area of approximately 280 ha and comprises all the features of an Arabo-Muslim city. It is composed of the central medina (8th century) and suburbs to the North and South (13th century). There are some 700 historic monuments.
At the time of inscription, 50% of the built heritage of Tunis was considered to be in a bad state of conservation or almost in ruins.
This is where the main mosque of Tunis is located, as has been the case almost all the time Tunis has been a Muslim city. The city was even laid out with it as the centre. Its name means 'olive tree', and comes from the mosque's founder who taught the Koran under an olive tree.
The decorated, mysterious and varied doors that line the roads, illustrate the ways of thought and life of Tunisian families: there are simple doors with a single leaf, double rectangular doors in Hafsid style, and doors with a small under door known as a Khoukha. It was invented by the Spanish princess, in order to oblige his Muslim subjects to bow to their monarch. Their colour also have a particular meaning: yellow ochre in the Koran is the colour loved by God; green is the colour of Paradise; blue, only introduced in recent times, recalls the 'blue of Sidi Bou Said', the village north of Tunis. Tricolour (white, green and red) one is the coat of arms of the Hafsid dynasty, who reigned from 1228 to 1574 in Tunis: they were brought together to recall the preceding dynasties - white for the Aghlabids, green for the Fatimids, and red for the Sanhajids.
The decorations over the doors are made using large and small nails in order to execute symbolic and geometric designs: they have considerable historical and sociological importance. Also to be found are the symbol of Tanit, the Carthage goddess of the fertility, the six-angled star of David (which according to legend drives away djinng, the malignant spirits), the Christian cross (a memory of the Christian past of Tunisia, with St Augustine of Hippo), the Muslim mihrab (the place in the mosque where the Imam leads the faithful in prayer), the Turkish moon, symbolizing Ottoman Turkey, and the other Christian symbols, the eye and the fish."
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