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Musti

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Triumphal Arch 

The triumphal arch has a position of almost mocking the old days, it is on the other side of the highway from the town, with grass growing at its feet and sheep grazing. Cars and truck thunder through the site, few withoug stopping.
The arch is in good condition, but the ones at Sbeïtla, Haïdra, Cillium and Maktar are clearly far more impressive.

Temples and churches

Musti has fine remains of three temples, dedicated to respectively Ceres, Apollo and Pluto. These seem to float into each other. More memorable is the far younger church, which has three aisles, ending in an apse.

Byzantine fortress

The Byzantine fortress tells the story of the last times of Musti. Its establishment reflects how much threat the Byzantine provinces of North Africa were under, and Musti served as one of several military outposts.
The fortress is notably small, compared to the one of Haïdra, f.x., hardly being able to sustain the inhabitants of Musti over longer periods of time. 

Sights

The triumphal arch located at the entrance of the site is still of unknown attribution. The eastern arch, which was in a very ruined state, was restored in 1967 by the National Institute of Art and Archaeology and the Historical Monuments Service. The nearby Mausoleum of the Julii was also restored at this time. The entire restoration took 17 months to complete.

The entrance of the site opens onto a large paved yard which leads to an attractive gateway. This gate had a covered walkway on the left and on the right. To the sides are the shops of the moneychangers and some bas-reliefs of well wishing genies.
Near the gate are the remains of three temples (to Ceres, Pluto and Apollo). Further on are ruins of a small 4th century Christian church, a basilica with three naves and a raised sacred area (the baptistry). It is adjoined by a large Byzantine fortification.


 
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