The best museums South

Of Andalusian inspiration and articulated around a beautiful courtyard, Dar Jellouli was built in the seventeenth century by the rich family of governors Sfax. They had based their fortune on the armament of ships. A visit to the museum brings to life the past of Sfax, from the necessities of daily life to the aspirations of spiritual life. The first floor presents usual objects of kitchen, toilet, clothing and furniture, the second floor of the costumes and traditional jewels, the second floor of the various Arabic calligraphies.

The foundation of the Kasbah began under the Aghlabid government in the 9th century. Since its construction, it has served several purposes during the history of the city: control tower for the Aghlabids, seat of the local administration and finally barracks for the armed forces. Today the Kasbah houses a museum that presents a complete panorama of the traditional architecture of the region from a didactic point of view.

The Archaeological Museum of Sfax presents collections of the prehistoric, Roman and Islamic periods of the region. You will find here collections of mosaics, glasses, potteries, coins recovered from the archaeological sites of the area. The objects presented come for the most part from Thyna, the Kerkennah Islands, Acholla and Skhira. The museum is housed in a beautiful house in the Medina, Dar Jellouli, an Andalusian-style palace that was the home of the local caïd before independence. The palace was recently renovated.

Located in a Koranic school built at the end of the th century with a beautiful garden. Various kitchen utensils, wedding clothing and traditional clothes in exhibition. Perfume, soap and natural cosmetic products in the region.

This museum is located in the former church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, built at the beginning of the 20th century. It presents the history of Zarzis and the ancient sites of the region through archaeological pieces and objects of daily life. The Carthaginian period is represented there. A model of the site of Gigthis reminds us of the importance of economic exchanges in the Roman period. One also discovers instruments used by the Zarzissians in the activities which marked their daily life since Antiquity, namely the culture of the olive tree, fishing and trade.

Abdelhamid Fehri, professor of history at the Tunisian university, teacher at Sfax and at the Sorbonne and islander of the Kerkena Islands - that's how he likes to spell his archipelago -, has designed with his own hands, in his family house, this heritage museum. With the help of the villagers, he has gathered together costumes from the past, agricultural tools and medical utensils to reconstruct a slice of life in Kerkena in the past. Wedding ceremonies, circumcisions, fishing parties: in a house with typical architecture from the late 19th and early 20th^centuries , visitors can follow the life of a modest Kerkennian household of that time. The museum also pays tribute to the great men of the island and finally houses the skeleton of the whale that washed up on its beaches in 2003 following the installation of oil platforms.

Workshops are organized to revive ancestral activities.

If, after the theory, you want to move on to the practice, you should know that Abdelhamid offers stays "à la kerkenienne". Lodged in the few rooms that he makes available to travelers, you will participate with him in the agricultural activities of the past (olive picking and fishing trips etc.) and forget the time of a few days the motorized vehicles to return to the cart. A great experience to try and in any case a place not to be missed to better understand these islands and their unique culture.