The Monuments

At the heart of the medina you will find a city centre full of life and entertainment with its traditional souks and cafes, the Rhaba. The surrounding buildings are inspired by Italian, Tunisian, Moroccan or oriental architecture.

The Medina is full of reproductions of symbolic monuments related to the different eras and civilizations of Arab history. The Skia al kahla gate for example is representative of Fatimid architecture. The Red Dome is as a jewel of Arabic architecture in Sicily and the Golden Tower, recently transformed into a marine museum is one of the most beautiful testimonies of the Muslim civilization of Seville. You may also admire the Blue Tower, a tribute to the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech.

Further away stand the ancient walls of the city of Mahdia dating from the 10th century, as well as the ruins of the ramparts of the city of Sfax. Theses incredible memorial sites are will allow you to dive into Tunisia’s legends and history and legends.

Barbary Horses

In front of the gate “al-Skifa al-Kahla”, these two horse statues remind us that the famous bearded horse is native of the Maghreb. Named in reference to the first Berber inhabitants, the bearded horse, graceful and excellent runner, was often offered as a gift to kings and foreign dignitaries.

According to a legend, the Bey of Tunis Hussein Ben Ali had offered in 1731 to Louis XV, king of France, a beard horse and seven other stallions. But the horse, named El Sham, never arrived at the royal stables. Without knowing why, he finds himself in the hands of an English gentleman, Edouard Cook, who in London offers him to his friend, the Marquis de Godolphin. El Sham is noticed in an epic battle, and Godolphin admireshim with an English mare. Three foals, future great champions, are born from this projection. They are the ancestors of nearly 354 competition winners.

El Sham the bearded horse would thus be at the origin of one of the most prestigious line of thoroughbred English, very wanted for the race. The most serious specialists agree to tell this story with some variants, oscillating between beard horse and Arabian horse who is a native of the Middle East.

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