Kairouan

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Kairouan*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mosque of Oqba
State Party Flag of Tunisia Tunisia
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iii, v, vi
Reference 499
Region† Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription 1988  (12th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
† Region as classified by UNESCO.

Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kairwan, Kayrawan, Al Qayrawan) is a Muslim holy city which ranks after Mecca and Medina as a place of pilgrimage. [1] Located in Tunisia, about 160 kilometres south of Tunis, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from Persian Kâravân[citation needed], meaning "camp", "caravan", or "resting place" (see caravanserai)[citation needed]. In 2003 the city had about 150,000 inhabitants.

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[edit] History

Kairouan was founded in about the year 670 when the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi selected a site in the middle of a dense forest, then infested with wild beasts and reptiles, as the location of a military post. It was to keep in check the Berber hordes and was located far from the sea where it was safe from attack. A city soon developed, with luxuriant gardens and olive groves. Ibn Nafi was killed in battle by the Berbers about fifteen years after the military post was established.

The city was soon recaptured and remained for four centuries a major holy city. In the 10th century, the city was embellished by the Aghlabites who ruled Ifriqiya from there between 800 and 909. It was the capital in the 11th century, and was famous for its wealth and prosperity.

About the middle of the eleventh century, the Ismaili Shiite Fatimites of Egypt instigated the Egyptian Bedouins to invade this part of Africa. These invaders so utterly destroyed the city in 1057 that it never regained its former importance. Then Mahdia became the capital under the Fatimites. Under the Ottomans, who called it Kairuan in Turkish (as in modern German), and included mention of the city in the full style of the Great Sultan (alongside broader Barbary and the new vilayet), Tunis became the capital (as seat of the Dey, next the soon ever more autonomous (Basha) Bey), and remains so in modern Tunisia. In 1881, Kairouan was taken by the French, after which non-Muslims were allowed access to the city.

[edit] Religion

There are many mosques in the city, among which the great mosque. After its establishment, Kairouan became an Islamic and Qur'anic learning center in North Africa. An article titled Towards a Strategic Geopolitic Vision of Afro-Arab Relations[2] by Professor Kwesi Prah [3] states "By 670, the Arabs had taken Tunisia, and by 675, they had completed construction of Kairouan, the city that would become the premier Arab base in North Africa. Kairouan was later to become the third holiest city in Islam in the medieval period, after Mecca and Medina, because of its importance as the centre of the Islamic faith in the Maghrib".

Judaism, no longer prevalent in the city, has an illustrious history in Kairouan, particularly in the early Middle Ages. Rabbeinu Chananel was from Kairouan and many other important rabbis, including Rabbi Isaac Alfasi studied there with him.

[edit] Tourism

The souk (market place) of Kairouan is in the Medina quarter, which is surrounded by walls, from which the entrance gates can be seen in the distance. Products that are sold in the souk include carpets, vases and goods made of leather. As with merchants in most major Tunisian cities, Kairouan merchants rely on tourism for much of their income.

The city's other main site is the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba, which is said to largely consist of its original building materials. In fact most of the column stems and capitals were taken from ruins of earlier-period buildings, while others were produced locally. There are 414 columns in the mosque. Almost all were taken from the ruins of Carthage. Previously, it was forbidden to count them, on pain of blinding.[4]

Among Tunisians, Kairouan is known for its pastries (e.g., zlebia and makroudh).

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the street scenes in "Cairo" were filmed in Kairouan.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ (1996) Hutchinson Encyclopedia 1996 Edition. Helicon Publishing Ltd, Oxford, pg.572. ISBN 1-85986-107-5. 
  2. ^ This was originally a paper submitted to the African Union (AU) Experts’ Meeting on a Strategic Geopolitic Vision of Afro-Arab Relations. AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, 11-12 May, 2004 [1].
  3. ^ Director, Centre for Advanced Study of African Societies, Cape Town, South Africa
  4. ^ Mooney, Julie (2004). Ripley's Believe It or Not! Encyclopedia of the Bizarre: Amazing, Strange, Inexplicable, Weird and All True!. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 47. ISBN 1579123996. 

[edit] External links

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World Heritage Sites in Tunisia

Amphitheatre of El Jem · Dougga/Thugga · Ichkeul National Park · Kairouan ·

Medina of Sousse · Medina of Tunis · Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis · Site of Carthage
Flag of Tunisia

Coordinates: 35°40′N, 10°06′E