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Tunis UNESCO world heritage sites

Tunis north

Zawiya Sidi Mehrez Mosque on Rue Sidi Mehrez
It is strongly influenced by Ottoman architecture, showing similarities to the Sultan Ahmed II Mosque of Istanbul with a central dome with cupolas occupying the four corners of the square of the prayer hall. Polychrome tiles were imported from Iznik (Turkey) to cover a large part of the wall in the direction of Mecca and the grand pillars that support the central dome.

Dar Lasram residence at 24 Rue du Tribunal
Dar Lasram, with a surface area of 2250 m2, is a good example of a large traditional Tunisian residence. The ground floor contains the warehouse and the service area, the first floor is reserved to family members while the upper floor is reserved to guests.

Kasbah Mosque at Rue du 2 Mars 1934
The mosque was built after 1230 by the architect Ali ibn Mohamed ibn Kacem following the orders of the Hafsid dynasty's founder Abu Zakariya Yahya (ruled between 1230 and 1249).

Dar El Bey Palace on Rue de la Kasbah
The palace's decoration is very rich and diverse with, as an example, sixteen twisted collumns with their arches in white marble: the rooms were designed by Tunisian, Spanish and Moroccan artists. These rooms are distinguished by their special rooftops highly decorated with painted scenes and precious materials, as well as andalusian style faience. The courtyard is paved in white marble and surrounded by a portico.

Zaouïa Sidi Ben Arous mausoleum on Rue Sidi Ben Arous
This 16th-century mausoleum was built on the site of a funduq (caravanserai or travellers' inn), in which the 13th-century mystic and professor once lived. A small prayer room on the right of the tomb is still used by his followers.

Mosque Sidi Youssef Dey at Souk Trok
The mosque is considered significant as it was the first Ottoman-Turkish mosque to be built in Tunis.

Souk el Attarine at Souk Attarine
This souk is famous for trading jasmine and rose water as well as amber and henna.

Zaytuna Mosque at 30 Rue Jamaa Ez Zitouna
The courtyard is accessible via nine lateral doorways and forms a rectangle surrounded by galleries supported by columns made variously of marble, granite or porphyry and which were taken from ancient monuments (primarily from Carthage), as were those in the prayer hall. The square minaret rises from the northwest corner of the courtyard. Built in 1894, the minaret is 43 meters (141 ft) high and imitates the decoration of the Almohad minaret of the Kasbah Mosque with its limestone strap-work on a background of ochre sandstone.

Bab El Bhar gate on Victory Square
Originally built during the Aghlabid period in the 9th century, the present-day yellow stone structure was constructed in 1860 on orders of the French consul.

Tunis south

Medersa El Mouradia on Rue Tourbet El Bey
The building, with an area of 460 m 2 , has an entrance vestibule, bent and covered with a barrel vault, which leads to a paved courtyard of limestone . The latter is surrounded by four porticoes consisting of horseshoe arches that fall back on columns surmounted capitals hafside type. The courtyard gives direct access to the rooms, to the prayer room and to a ablution room preceded by a courtyard.

Madrasa Slimania at 13, rue Medersa Slimaniya
Madrasa Slimania is known for its porch located at a higher level compared to the street. This porch offers access to a richly decorated entrance with an Ottoman touch. Columns and capitals hold its beautiful stone arch (kadhel et harch) with its green roof tiles cornice.

Dar Hussein palace on 3 Boulevard Bab Mnara
Constructed in the late 18th century and rebuilt a century later, this handsome palace has functioned as a private residence, as the headquarters of the Tunis municipal council and as the base of the French army in Tunisia. It's now the headquarters of the Institut National du Patrimoine (National Heritage Institute).

Dar Ben Abdallah palace on Rue Sidi Kacem
The palace was built during the 18th century by a noble, Mohamed El Bradaï El Ksontini who later sold it to Slimane Kahia, a general in the Tunisian army. But it got its current name from its last owner, the rich silk trader Mohamed Tahar Ben Abdallah. In 1964, the office of Tunisian arts bought the house and made it the popular arts and traditions museum of Tunis.

Tourbet El Bey at 60 Rue Tourbet El Bey
The building is topped with domes, the main ones covered with green tortoiseshell-shaped tiles, and the facades are of ochre sandstone, decorated at regular intervals by pilasters and Italian-style entablatures in light-coloured stone. They correspond with the different funerary chambers inside which house the tombs of the ruling family and their wives, as well as of a number of their ministers and servants.

Gate of the Blacksmiths on Bab Jedid Avenue
It is the sixth gate pierced in the ramparts of the medina in 1278, under the reign of Hafsid Sovereign Abu Zakariyâ Yahya al-Wathiq (1277-1279).