Tunisia Way

The Raqqada Museum. This former presidential palace 10 km southwest of Kairouan near the archeological site of Raqqada, now houses the largest museum of Islamic art in Tunisia.

It comprises: A ceramics room, distinguished by a varied collection of ceramics, mainly from digs on the sites of Raqqada, 9th-century capital of the Aghlabids, and Sabra al-Mansuriyya, capital of the Fatimids and the Zirids between the 10th and 11th centuries. 

The exhibit is enhanced by some very fine examples of Egyptian and Syrian ceramics.

The medals room, where an exhaustive collection of Islamic coins in Tunisia makes it possible to follow their development and typology over more than a thousand years.

The bronze and glass room, exhibiting the chandeliers that formerly illuminated the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, dating from the 10th and 11th centuries. This rare collection includes the famous chandelier of the prince Al-Moez Ibn Badis. Also exhibited in this room is a fine collection of glass pieces from Sabra.

The manuscripts room, containing an exhibit of the finest specimens of the Koran, written on parchment (particularly the well-known blue parchment), originally from the Great Mosque of Kairouan. In viewing this collection, the visitor can follow the development of Kufic writing, and of book-manufacturing techniques in Tunisia in the Middle Ages.