The first curators of the Museum, René Marie du Coudray de La Blanchère and Paul Gauckler, two young French archaeologists, were aware however that while Tunisia did not have ancient statues of a particular interest, its Roman floor mosaics were of a superior quality and deserved a place of honour in the Museum collections. Floor mosaics were regarded as a minor art.
At that time statues were regarded as the highest form of classic art, especially those which were copies of lost Greek originals of the Age of Pericles (Vth century BC). Room of Carthage with floor mosaics from Uthina and the Altar of Gens AugustaĪ former patio of the palace was turned into the largest hall of the Museum to house the Roman statues which had been found at Carthage. The palace was built in the 1850s and it reflects the eclecticism of its time it shows Italian influences as well as those of the European Revival of the Moorish architecture of Granada and in general of Spain. The Grande Salle is an immense rectangle, 19 metres by 16, surmounted byĪ dome, gilt and painted in the best style of Arab art.
Murray Handbook for Travellers in Algeria and Tunis - 1895Ĭeiling of the Grand Salle des Fêtes (Ballroom) aka Room of Sousse because its floor housed a large mosaic from Sousse The halls are of great size, very handsomely painted and gilt, and the walls covered entirely with tiles of native manufacture, but of European design. It was opened on the 17th May 1888 under the name of Musée Alaoui (after the name of Ali Bey, the powerless ruler of Tunisia at the time). The treaty by which Mohammed el-Sadik Bey accepted the French Protectorate in 1881 was signed there.Ĭlose to these public apartments is the Old Harem which is now repaired and utilised as a museum, under the direction of M.
VINTAGE PATINA BRASS MENORAHS MADE IN NISRAEL SERIES
The Beys lived at Bardo, a separate quarter of Tunis on a hill to the south of the city where in the XIXth century they built a series of palaces in a mixture of European and Moorish styles.
From a formal point of view the Bey (civil governor) of Tunis acted on behalf of the Sultan of Constantinople, but when in 1881 the French imposed their protectorate over the country the Ottoman Empire did not react and it just strengthened its garrisons in neighbouring Tripolitania. You may wish to see an introductory page to this section first.īetween 17 the Beylik of Tunis was ruled de facto by the Husaynid Dynasty which was founded by an Ottoman officer.
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