SULTAN'S PALACE

The perimeter wall of this ruined palace has a circumference of around 2 km, is 4 m high and 3 m thick. The palace consists of several brick buildings built using a variety of techniques, the most common of which consists of alternating vertical and horizontal rows of bricks. The perimeter wall is often a combination of brick and stone. The bricks bear the marks of the various brickmakers who made them; these marks are particularly visible in the sultan's private apartments and in the guards' quarters. After passing through the main gate, you'll find yourself in front of the site's two most impressive monuments. To the left, the 8 m-high Council and Audience Hall invites you to cross its corridors and enter the central Audience Hall through a small door. You can still get an idea of the half-collapsed ceilings, made from a combination of doum palm trunks and mats. Opposite the council chamber to the south, and of similar height, the white tower, or goussour baïda, is so named because it was painted entirely in white at the time. To the east of the Council and Audience Hall is the accommodation for the sultan's wives. The bedrooms were located on the first floor and communicated with each other; upstairs was the salon. The sovereign also had concubines, whom he housed in a more basic apartment to the south of the harem.