Tunisia
Kairouan
Kairouan, one of the holy cities of Islam, is renowned for its Great Mosque, which has influenced the style of other mosques in the Maghreb.
Kairouan was founded in 670 CE as a post in the Arab conquest of the West. Its heyday came with the Aghlabid dynasty which built the Great Mosque and established a university that was a centre of education both in Islamic thought and secular sciences. Other notable monuments of that period include the Mosque of the Three Doors, the Basin of the Aghlabids and the Zawiya of Sidi Sahib.
Community Perspective: Easy to reach from the tourist hub of Sousse, but don’t visit on a Friday as everything will be dead. Wander around beyond the medina and the Great Mosque, for example to the impressive Aghlabid Basins.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Kairouan (ID: 499)
- Country
- Tunisia
- Status
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Inscribed 1988
Site history
History of Kairouan
- 1988: Inscribed
- Inscribed
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
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- ii
- iii
- v
- vi
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- tunisiepatrimoine.tn — Ministry of Cultural Affairs: Great Mosque of Kairouan
- tunisiepatrimoine.tn — Ministry of Cultural Affairs: The Aghlabid pools
- islamicart.museumwnf.org — Islamic Art:Mosque of the Three Doors
- archnet.org — Archnet on Madrasa and Zawiya of Sidi Abid al-Ghariani
- atlasobscura.com — Atlas Obscura: Aghlabid Basins
- sacredsites.com — Link
News Article
- Dec. 17, 2023 theguardian.com — Three killed while repairing ancient wall at Kairouan
Community Information
- Community Category
- Religious structure: Islamic
- Archaeological site: Near Eastern
- Urban landscape: Arabic and Middle Eastern
Travel Information
Tunisia hotspot
Recent Connections
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Perfect Inscriptions
1988 -
Moorish architecture
9th-century monuments: "Great Mosque, a… -
Ottoman Empire
"The Ottomans safeguarded Kairouan as t…
Connections of Kairouan
- Trivia
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Moved from location of original construction
Great Mosque of Kairouan has columns from Carthage
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- History
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Berbers
In 745, Kharijite Berbers captured Kairouan, which was already at that time a developed city with luxuriant gardens and olive groves. (Wiki) -
Ottoman Empire
"The Ottomans safeguarded Kairouan as the place in which Islam gained its first foothold in the Maghreb."See funci.org
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Located in a Former Capital
Kairouan - capital of Aghlabid Kingdom -
Umayyad Caliphate
Umayyad general Uqba ibn Nafi founded Kairouan
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- Architecture
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Spolia
Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba: There are 414 marble, granite and porphyry columns in the mosque. Almost all were taken from the ruins of Carthage. (wiki) -
Hypostyle
The Great Mosque "is one of the oldest places of worship in the Islamic world, as well as a model for all later mosques in the Maghreb. (It) is one of the most impressive and largest Islamic monuments in North Africa, its perimeter is almost equal to 405 metres (1,328 feet). This vast space contains a hypostyle prayer hall" SeeSee en.wikipedia.org
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Moorish architecture
9th-century monuments: "Great Mosque, an architectural masterpiece that served as a model for several other Maghreban mosques, the Mosque of the Three Doors that represents the most ancient existent sculpted facade of Muslim art." (OUV statement) .. " notable among other things for the first Islamic use of the horseshoe arch" (wiki)See en.wikipedia.org
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Medina
Criterion (v): ..., the medina of Kairouan, whose skyline is punctuated by the minarets and the cupolas of its mosques and zawiyas, has preserved its network of winding streets and courtyard houses.
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- World Heritage Process
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Perfect Inscriptions
1988
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- Religion and Belief
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Islamic pilgrimage sites
Centre of Islamic faith in the Maghreb; "third-holiest site" in Islam -
Notable mosques
Great Mosque (7th century) and the 9th-century Mosque of the Three Gates (both Sunni)
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- Human Activity
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Irrigation and drainage
Bassins des Aghlabides
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- Constructions
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Mausolea
Sidi Abid MasoleumSee fr.wikipedia.org
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Notable minarets
The massive minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is the oldest standing minaret. Its construction began during the first third of the 8th century and was completed in 836 CE (wiki) -
Cisterns
Aghlabid Cisters are inclused in Zone III of the inscription -
Walled cities
"The walls are 3.8km long and 4 to 8 m high and have many gates like Bab Tunis, Bab Jalladine, and Bab el-Khukha." -
Sundial
Inside the mosque
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- WHS on Other Lists
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Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Kairouan Conservation Programme (Kairouan, Tunisia) (1992)
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- Timeline
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Built in the 9th century
The Great Mosque was rebuilt in the 9th century
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- WHS Hotspots
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Tunisia hotspot
161km (best by car)
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- 18
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Indiana Jones movie
Indiana Jones and the lost Ark - as Cairo -
Used in film as another WHS
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (as Cairo)
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News
- theguardian.com 12/17/2023
- Three killed while repairing ancie…
Recent Visitors
Visitors of Kairouan
- Adrian Turtschi
- Alberto Rodriguez Gutierrez
- Alexander Barabanov
- Alexander Lehmann
- Alfons and Riki Verstraeten
- alicemears
- Ali Zingstra
- A. Mehmet Haksever
- AmyAbroad
- Ana
- Andrew_Kerr
- Argo
- Artur Anuszewski
- Aspasia
- Atila Ege
- baiqitun
- Bauchat
- BaziFettehenne
- Bill Maurmann
- Boj
- Bram de Bruin
- Cezar Grozavu
- Chen Taotao
- ChrisN
- Christer Sundberg
- Christian Wagner
- Christravelblog
- Corinne Vail
- ctravel
- CugelVance
- Dani Cyr
- David Marton
- Dimitar Krastev
- Dimitrios Polychronopoulos
- Djpatten
- Dolemite92
- Dorejd
- Dutchnick
- Els Slots
- Erfe91
- Eric PK
- Erik Jelinek
- Eva Kisgyorgy
- Fan Yibo
- Federico P.
- Feldhase
- Felicité
- Frank Britton
- Geert Luiken
- George Gdanski
- GeorgeIng61
- GerhardM
- Gianmarco
- Grzegorz Andruszkiewicz
- Haining Guan
- Hammeel
- Hanming
- Harry Mitsidis
- H Beswick
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- History Fangirl
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- Iain Jackson
- Ian Cade
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- Jarek Pokrzywnicki
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Community Reviews
Show full reviews
I visited Kairouan on a half-day trip from Sousse by louage, the typical Tunisian minibus share taxi. The 60km distance is easily covered within an hour and a ticket costs only 5 Tunisian dinars (1.70 EUR). It was a scorching day, but still I managed to see all of Kairouan’s significant sights on foot – I walked the streets for 10km in total. With about 140,000 inhabitants, it is a fairly large city, located in a semi-arid region. Fortunately, there are many mini-markets where you can stop for a cool drink.
I started at the Aghlabid Basins, 1 of the 3 locations that make up this WHS. This is already quite a trek from the louage station. The Basins, large water reservoirs from the 9th century, were built outside the city walls and are fed by an aqueduct. I entered from the side, where the gate was open; the official entrance wasn’t and there were no tickets checked or sold. Local boys were using the reservoirs for swimming, although with plastic garbage floating in them this didn't look inviting. Still, I found the monumentality of the reservoirs quite impressive – the largest is 128m in diameter. Later I heard from the guide in Dougga that more basins have been found recently.
I then continued to location #2, the Zaouia of Sidi Sahib which shelters the remains of a companion of the Prophet. It is a white, domed building just inside the city walls. I found it closed …
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I might have caught Kairouan on a bad day. I went on a Friday and everything was closed. The town was mostly deserted and I had no idea what to do, so I went with a guy offering me a guided tour. This proofed to be more interesting, than walking on my own and was a rather pleasant experience, apart from the last stop with the obligatory carpet shop (I specifically negotiated not to visit before starting the tour). With most shops and restaurants closed and almost no people, it felt rather weird to wander around the streets. I would also not be able to see the outstanding value of this town, compared to other medinas in the country I saw. I’d say it’s one of these places that due to proximity to the other WHS is a must for the real hunters, but can easily be skipped if you only go for the country’s highlights.
The town can be reached rather easy by car. Expect some narrow roads on the way if you come from the coast. I did it on an easy half day trip from Port El Kantaoui, spending the rest of the day at the beach. You could easily combine the day trip with Sousse and/or el Jem, if you have limited time resources.
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Kairouan is the fourth holiest city in Islam, (although I have just done a little research and this may be a tad controversial!) and it is said that travelling there 7 times is the equivalent of travelling to Mecca. The most impressive site is the great Mosque with its powerful if austere minaret and columns taken from Carthage! Also impressive is the facade of the Mosque of Three Doors! Near the medina entrance is the mosque containing the well that the city was founded around which is supposedly linked to the Zamzam well in Mecca and is a site of Pilgrimage, I found it a bit odd as there was a blinkered camel turning the well in a very small space, but there are some amusing pictures of the camel going up and down the stairs that reach the site.
Kairouan is easy to get to from Sousse, either by bus or Louagge which I would recommend more as on the bus we got picked up by a tout for one of Kairouan's many famous Carpet shops before we even arrived, and it is best to get picked up by one outside the great Mosque as their views are much better, and they will tell you their carpets are better too!!!
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Since it is practically impossible for Westerners to visit the holy sites of Islam in Saudi Arabia, Kairouan is the closest most people can get to an introduction to the history of one of the world's major religions. Kairouan is easy to visit from the tourist regions of the coast and certainly makes for a worthwhile trip, if only to see the really impressive Great Mosque.
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