The best museums Tunisia

Unfortunately closed since July 2021, the Bardo Museum remains the most important archaeological museum in the Maghreb. Created in 1882 in one of the pavilions of the beylical palace, it was then part of a set of buildings constructed by the Hafsides. Made sadly famous after the attacks of March 18, 2015, the museum is located at the exit of the city to Beja and Bizerte, next to the university campus. The objects it houses are divided into four departments grouping collections belonging to an era of the country's history: Carthaginian, Punic, Christian and Arab-Muslim. A fifth department is devoted to Greek bronze and marble objects from the underwater excavations of Mahdia. The Bardo Museum is renowned for housing the largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world from Carthage, Sousse, Dougga or El Jem. Some of the works on display are unique, such as the mosaic "known as Virgil". These pieces are a valuable source for research on daily life in Roman Africa. From the same Roman period, the museum also has a rich collection of marble statues representing the deities and Roman emperors. Among the beautiful pieces not to be missed: the grimacing masks, the terracotta statues or the steles of the Libyan-Punic period; the Greek works discovered in the excavations of the Mahdia ship, with the marble bust of Aphrodite and finally the blue Koran of Kairouan in the Islamic department.

The museum has superb mosaics, from neighboring sites: the first two versions of the Colosseum (two smaller amphitheaters) on the road to Sfax, still visible, have provided many mosaics presenting the shows of the circus. All the more interesting that one has the feeling to be able to compare the draft and the final version, rare fact in these architectural proportions. About thirty Roman villas, brought to light behind the site of the museum, brought testimonies of the prosperity of the merchants of the ancient Thysdrus.

A pretty white museum with beautiful gardens showing scenes of daily life in Djerba. All the steps of the wedding are reconstituted: from the preparation of the bride to the festivities. We also explain the crushing of olives by a dromedary, the Sufi dances, the circumcision and many other traditions. The museography is a bit old, but the overall structure of the museum teaches a lot. The presence of a guide can be appreciated. The museum's café offers a very nice view, it is the highest point of the island with 52 m!

A rather modest aquarium located in the fort el-Henni, built from the th century. We are quick to turn the tower and end with a passage on the terrace at the top: beautiful view of Bizerte, the medina and the old port.

Tozeur's Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions is a charming little museum housed in a former marabout. In these few rooms, Souad and her husband welcome you with all their heart, as if they were receiving friends. The museum is small, but very cute. The bridal room is particularly pretty, and the old kitchen full of traditional objects. Souad knows Tozeur and its history inside out, and is sure to enliven your visit with songs and poems.

The El Kobba museum is known for its zigzag pleated dome, unique in Tunisia. In the nineteenth century, this house housed the caravanserai of the French, before becoming an inn until the 1960s. Its frontage is decorated with niches and sumptuous arcades of times, this monument also has a central atrium. The architectural particularity of the place allows to maintain a pleasant temperature inside. Nowadays, the museum of Arts and Popular Traditions offers from its terrace a nice view on the souks and their maze of alleys.

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.

This late 18th century building houses the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions. The various collections are highlighted in this beautiful family home, very nicely furnished. Its common areas and apartments are harmoniously decorated and chosen according to their use. A reconstruction of the daily life of a well-to-do family of the 19th century, in its setting and its customs. The museum is, since March 2009, closed for restoration work. Ask about the date of reopening.

It is a vast bourgeois mansion, built in 1796 by Dar Ben Abdallah. It exhibits, in a reconstituted decor, many jewellery, toys, traditional costumes and antique furniture.

Located at the exit of the city, this museum has just been successfully renovated. With rich collections well presented, it offers a vision of the artisanal past of Djerba under its various aspects. The occupation of the island's space with a very educational model of a menzel, different types of fishing or the craft know-how with costumes, jewelry, carpets and various objects made of earth or carved wood: you will learn here many things about the rich Djerbian culture!

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.

A small museum on the history of Gafsa, quite interesting for history lovers. The collections are divided into two groups: the first is made up of tools (in flint and carved stone or bone) from the prehistoric period, which are linked to the Capsian culture, while the second brings together various pieces (statues, ceramics, mosaics, etc.) from the Roman, Byzantine and Vandal periods. Two mosaics in particular, that of Venus fishing and that of the athletic games and pugilism, are particularly beautiful!

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.

In this nice museum, you will learn a lot about the part of the Sahara located in the Douz region. With a rather pleasant museology, you will understand the natural (fauna and flora) and cultural heritage of the Grand Erg Oriental, as well as the traditional life of the five tribes that historically populated the Douz region. You will learn a lot about the camels, these inescapable animals of the region. In the center of the museum stands a large nomadic tent. An interesting stop before going to really survey the desert!

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.

A few kilometres before arriving in Matmata, a magnificent cave ensemble reveals itself. Its owner, Faisal Habib, has for some years wanted it to be a luxury hotel. But the project is slow to take shape. In the meantime, Diar Amor is also a café, a shop, a restaurant and a modest museum located in the family house of Faycal, three generations old. Shame on the location (too) tourism: all the coaches stop here. 

A rich collection of fossils and pieces of dinosaur skeletons, as well as maps, diagrams and various reconstructions that explain the origins and evolution of our planet. In the center of the main hall, there are reconstructions of an iguanodontid dinosaur made of plaster and a pterosaur hanging from the ceiling, as well as a silicon simulation of a theropod egg nest. The museum has been chosen to be the nucleus of a future "Geopark of the Dahar".

The museum is located in a traditional house in the medina of Nefta. The strength of this museum? Its incredible collection of hundreds of photographs illustrating the landscapes of the region and especially the way of life of its inhabitants and their traditions. Thanks to them, and to the comments of the inexhaustible and passionate curator, you will learn everything about the history of Nefta between 1850 and 1950. In the courtyard of the museum are exposed various objects of the local craft industry.