To the origins
Haouanet, dating from the Bronze Age, are the oldest structures in Tunisia. These are small cubic burial chambers dug into the rock, examples of which can be seen in the village of Chaouach. Great masters of urban planning, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians developed large cities with wide avenues intersecting at right angles. Stucco, ceramics and floors combining brick cement and splinters of marble and shell adorn the residences arranged around a patio, which is accessed from the entrance via an angled corridor to preserve privacy. Kerkouane is home to the finest Punic urban remains. The powerful ramparts and defensive moats of the city of Carthage also date from this period. Stylistically, there is an astonishing blend of Egyptian influences (sculpted and painted cornice known as the "Egyptian throat", pyramidion, massive volumes), Greek (Ionic and Doric columns) and Punic (mosaic and decorative art). The mausoleum at Dougga is a fine example. The fortress of the Numidian kings of Makthar, meanwhile, bears witness to the diversity of ritual structures of the period. Dolmen and multi-chamber tombs rub shoulders with tophets, sacred areas dedicated to Baal and Tanit. The Punics were followed by the Romans. After destroying the city, they rebuilt Carthage according to a checkerboard plan that would be adopted by all the cities in the province, which the Romans modernized with powerful infrastructures. The result was miles of roads, bridges and, above all, impressive aqueducts, including the Zaghouan aqueduct, which measured almost 125km. These aqueducts supplied water to cisterns, fountains and pools in domestic patios and, of course, thermal baths. Pragmatic, the Romans nonetheless appreciated the monumentality and ostentation of an architecture designed to underline their power. Temples and capitols proliferated, as did theaters and coliseums. Not-to-be-missed sites include the gigantic colosseum at El Jem, the great thermal baths of Bulla Regia, Dougga and Makthar, and the superb three capitoline temples in the city of Sbeïtla. Power was also glorified by the construction of mighty triumphal arches leading to sumptuous forums encircled by porticoes, such as the one in the new Carthage. Roman prosperity can also be seen in the rich patrician residences with their polychrome paintings and mosaics. In Bulla Regia, many wealthy Romans doubled their living space by converting basements to create a second, cooler dwelling in which to endure the summer months! The Roman period also saw the development of early Christian architecture. The catacombs at Sousse, as well as the vaulted chapel, rotunda and church at the Damous el Karita site in Carthage, are prime examples. Tunisia came under the control of Byzantium, which definitively adopted the Christian faith, and built beautiful churches with a three-nave basilica plan and sumptuous mosaic decorations. The Byzantines also excelled in the art of fortification, as demonstrated by the powerful fortress of Kélibia and the massive citadel of Haïdra.
Splendors of Islam
The first witnesses of Islamic architecture in Tunisia are a surprising mixture of military and religious architecture, like the ribats, real citadels of faith, which can be spotted by their massive and crenellated silhouette and their watchtower called nador. The most impressive are to be seen in Sousse and Monastir. The first mosques, often made from materials from Roman and Byzantine buildings, also take on the appearance of fortresses, like the Great Mosque of Kairouan, whose powerful minaret, designed on the model of Mediterranean watchtowers, cannot be missed. The latter, with its porticoed courtyard and its T-shaped plan topped by a dome, will inspire many other mosques such as those of Tunis and Mahdia. These large mosques are in the heart of the medina, itself protected by imposing ramparts dominated by powerful kasbahs or fortified citadels, as can be seen in Sousse or Sfax whose ramparts date back to the ninth century. It is in the heart of this labyrinth of narrow streets, that the jewels of Islam are discovered. The souks, bubbling markets sometimes sheltered by a barrel vault, rub shoulders with the medersas and zaouïas, religious teaching establishments, as well as the caravanserais welcoming merchants and travelers, the hammams and the dars or town houses. The latter are entirely designed according to a principle of respect for privacy. The exterior façade has no or few openings, except for a massive door and a portal whose decoration reflects the social status of the owner. The few existing openings are always protected by elegant moucharabiehs. Inside, the house is organized around a central courtyard as shown very well by the beautiful Dar Al Jaziri in the medina of Tunis, itself a Unesco World Heritage Site. In terms of style, the austerity of the first buildings gradually gave way to a decorative effervescence, especially between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, when Tunisia became the refuge of Andalusian artists and craftsmen, who left their mark made of twirling arabesques, intertwined arches and coffered ceilings decorated with muqarnas or stalactites. Under the Ottoman regency, the architecture of Islam will know new developments. The mosques multiply the tiers of domes that we see rising towards the sky, just like the minarets which are now octagonal, more slender and often topped by a pyramidal lantern. The mosques also have tourbets, mausoleums richly decorated, overhung by a dome, and entirely dedicated to the memory of a sovereign. Tunis is home to superb examples of this Ottoman architecture: the Mohamed Bey mosque with its high silhouette, its white domes and its sumptuous marble, sculpted plaster and ceramic coverings or the Youssef Dey mosque with its mausoleum topped by a pyramidal roof covered with glazed tiles and coated with a superb marble polychromy. The Ottoman period is also the one of the renewal of the cities with the multiplication of fondouks - serving at the same time as warehouses and inns -, medersas, barracks and especially sumptuous urban palaces, gradually abandoning the local influences to turn to the French or Italian influences, in particular under the dynasty of Husseinites. Not to be missed: the ruins of the Palace of La Mohamedia, imagined as a Tunisian Versailles, the Kobbet Ennhas Palace in La Manouba mixing native, Arabo-Andalusian and Italian motifs or the Essaâda Palace in La Marsa, an astonishing mix of Hispano-Moorish and French-Italian influences.
Vernacular architecture
Tunisia's identity is also reflected in the richness of its vernacular architecture. In the north, you'll discover traditional gourbis, made of branches and thatch, or elaborate with mud bricks and straw. In the fishermen's villages, the dwellings delight the eye with their whiteness punctuated by bright colors - found on balconies and moucharabiehs - their flat roofs and elegant patios. Sidi-Bou-Saïd is a proud example. The island of Djerba has its own distinctive architecture, that of the menzels, large farms protected by high walls housing stables, granaries and workshops around the main house, the houch, organized around a central patio. Saharan architecture has developed on the edge of the desert, and can be recognized by its ochre brick facades, arranged to create beautiful geometric patterns, as in Tozeur. But the most astonishing vernacular dwellings are to be found in southern Tunisia. This is where the Berbers, trying to escape the Arab conquest, devised an underground habitat. In Matmata, they dug deep beneath the earth to create troglodyte dwellings. Seen from the air, the village resembles a lunar landscape, with its giant craters, up to 10 m deep, at the bottom of which are the patios of these astonishing dwellings. When they couldn't dig into the ground, the Berbers dug into the cliffs and erected astonishing fortified villages, the ksour, whose mysterious silhouettes dominate the ridges. Chenini, for example, consists of three storeys of troglodyte houses integrated into a colossal structure whose citadel seems to be an extension of the stone. In the ksour, the houses have an enclosed stone courtyard to ensure the privacy of the home. But the most visible structures in these villages are their ghorfas, fortified granaries whose vaulted cells overlap one another like the cells of a beehive. Used as workshops and warehouses, some have also been transformed into dwellings. The finest examples of this architecture can be seen at Ksar Ouled Soltane, Douiret and Ghomrassen.
Colonial architecture
Under the French protectorate, Tunis and Sfax were endowed with new extensions called "European cities", characterized by a checkerboard plan and wide tree-lined avenues. At first, neo-styles were favored by the government. The ancient Cathedral Saint-Louis of Carthage is an astonishing mixture of Byzantine and Moorish styles, with its polychrome friezes, its horseshoe arches and its blue earthenware domes. Neo-Moorish buildings then multiplied, combining traditional orientalist motifs with the new technical possibilities offered by cast iron, steel and concrete. The architect Raphaël Guy is the great representative of this trend. The Bab-Souika Post Office in Tunis with its minaret-shaped bell tower is one of his most famous achievements. Then the neo styles will give way to an astonishing art nouveau effervescence which, again, will compose with the oriental ornamentation. The great figure of this trend is the architect Emile Resplandy to whom we owe in particular the Municipal Theater of Tunis with its ramps with superbly chiseled ironwork and boxes protected by moucharabiehs. The buildings of the street Oum Kalthoum are also proud representatives of this trend with their stairwells very worked, their floral and animal motifs and their mosaics in facade. The Italians also participate in this architectural revival, like Giuseppe Abita and his buildings recognizable by their balconies and rotundas and their ornamental wealth. The Italian community is so important in Tunisia, and in Tunis in particular, that neighborhoods such as Petite Sicile are developing. There are small houses with one or two rooms reminiscent of the modest traditional homes of Sicily. But there were also important buildings such as the Gnecco Palace, the Rossini Italian Theater or the Italian Consulate, whose simple and sober volumes are a perfect illustration of fascist architecture. Art Deco is more discreet, but has a representative of size: the Great Synagogue of Tunis, with its walls with geometric patterns and bright colors. Astonishing! Between 1928 and 1932, the billionaire George Sebastian had a superb villa built in Hammamet, mixing traditional architecture and European design... and unknowingly began the transformation of the peaceful city into a popular tourist resort.
Contemporary Tunisia
In architecture, independence meant brutalism and international style. The Hôtel du Lac in Tunis, a glass, concrete and steel structure whose floors are linked by cantilevered staircases at each end, creating an inverted pyramid, is one of the most famous examples. As is the Hôtel Africa and its glass curtain, designed by Olivier Clément Cacoub, a great architect of the time who also designed many presidential palaces - with their sober lines and monumental volumes - the El Menzah Olympic complex and the Hôtel des Congrès de Tunis. In 1979, Cacoub was also responsible for the creation of the country's first integrated tourist resort, Port El Kantaoui, modelled on Sidi Bou Saïd. By the 1960s, the Tunisian Riviera had seen a proliferation of hotels and marinas, a concrete development linked to mass tourism that continued into the 1990s with the creation of the Yasmine Hammamet resort and its hundreds of hotels and "fake" medina. Fortunately, these concrete giants in no way detracted from the charm of the original medinas! By this time, the population of Tunis was still growing. To accommodate them, the city built more and more concrete buildings on the outskirts, while developing new areas such as the Perle du Lac, around the newly reclaimed lake. At the same time, the city has become aware of the importance of enhancing and revitalizing its historic center, and has stepped up its preservation campaigns. This concern for the past has not stopped it from dreaming up the wildest projects. In 2011, the Cité de la Culture baffled many with its blend of futuristic and oriental architecture. Today, it's the Cité économique de Tunisie project that's leaving people... speechless. Unveiled in 2014, this project is a future mega-complex integrated into the modern city of Enfedha. This is where Russian billionaire Vasily Klyuki plans to build White Sails Hospital & Spa, a spectacular cross between a skyscraper and a sailing liner. Less extravagant and more respectful of tradition, the Art Village Arena project in Utica was designed by the MOA agency, and features an amphitheatre with a wooden façade in homage to local craftsmanship. The same respect for tradition can be found at the Dar Hi Hotel in Nefta, a superb ecolodge whose troglodyte rooms are directly inspired by Tunisian vernacular architecture. In fact, Tunisia is increasingly converting to ecotourism... a great way to discover a unique heritage!
