THE "MENZEL" OF DJERBA

With its 514 square kilometers, the island of Djerba has long been both a crossroads of trade and a place of refuge and settlement for populations of various origins. Over the centuries, its strategic location and flat topography have exposed it to all the covetousness of invaders coming from more or less far. An exceptional urbanism developed there from the 9th to the 18th century. This urbanism was guided by the imperative of defense and by the need to make the best use of scarce resources, whether water or food. The result was a deliberately dispersed urbanism, shaping the territory according to a division into neighborhoods(houma) and creating an original landscape. Each houma is composed of a series of menzels, which are areas of daily life and agricultural activities of 2 to 4 hectares. Dwelling, well, threshing floor, storage rooms... The whole of these houma with their menzel is structured around numerous tortuous tracks and paths spread all over the island of Djerba. If there are still menzels in activity today in Djerba, and that one can possibly cross some at random, it is not obvious to visit some. It remains above all places of private life. An excellent way to discover them is to visit the reconstructed menzel in the Djerba Heritage section of Djerba Explore. At the time of writing this guide, for the quality of its urban landscapes, Djerba is a candidate for inclusion in the Unesco World Heritage List!