Name of Monument:

Ramparts and Kasbah of Sousse

Location:

Medina, Sousse, Tunisia

Date of Monument:

Hegira 235 / AD 850 (kasbah), AH 244 / AD 859 (ramparts)

Architect(s) / master-builder(s):

Khalaf al-Fata (works overseer for the tower).

Period / Dynasty:

Aghlabid, Abbasid

Patron(s):

Abu al-‘Abbas Muhammad (kasbah), Abu Ibrahim Ahmed (ramparts).

Description:

The perimeter of the Sousse ramparts measures 2,250 m and they enclose an area of 32 hectares.
Constructed of hewn stone, they have a pathway right around the perimeter with a parapet whose crenellations have rounded tops. The perimeter pathway is built on deep counter-arches roofed with barrel vaults. The arches open towards the town. In the upper areas, where the ramparts meet the rock-faces of the site, the counter-arches are stacked in two tiers.
Oblong towers flank the external walls. Some stand 4 m higher than the main wall. The enclosure has three gates, Bab al-Bahr (Gate of the Sea), Bab al-Qibli (Eastern Gate) and Bab al-Gharbi (Western Gate). The kasbah stands on the southeast corner of the ramparts at the highest point of the site.
Not counting the recent additions, the Kasbah fortress covers an area of 7,740 sq m, of which an area of 2,955 sq m lies outside the town ramparts. The oldest part, today, part of the Sousse Archaeological Museum, is built around a courtyard with porticoes roofed with barrel vaults. One signal tower is attributed by the historian al-Bakri to Khalaf al-Fata, the freed slave of the Aghlabid prince who supervised the works. Constructed as one square set upon another, the tower is 30 m high.
The summit is accessible by a staircase built into the thickness of the wall. The central area consists of four superposed rooms roofed with groined or barrel vaults. The ribat and the Khalaf towers rise respectively 27 m and 77 m above sea level. Moreover they are placed in the same axis as a northeast navigation channel, so that ships could be guided at night firstly by the beacon on the Khalaf tower and later by the one on the second tower.
There has been constant restoration to the site. Three gates have been added to the original ones; the Bab Jadid (the New Gate; AH 1280 / AD 1860), Bab al-Jebli (North Gate) and Bab al-Finga (Gate of the Guillotine). The Sousse Archaeological Museum is housed in the kasbah.

The Sousse Wall is 2,250 m around its perimeter and encloses an area of 32 hectares. It follows the line of the Byzantine wall, some of which has survived. The kasbah, a fortress housing the army garrison and the seat of the governor, rises from the southwest corner and has been subject to continuous restoration work since the AH 3rd / AD 9th century to the present day. A 30 m signal tower (manar) commanded the coastline, affording a field of vision of more than 13 km.

How Monument was dated:

Inscription on the south rampart mentioned by Marçais in his Manuel d'art musulman.

Selected bibliography:

Al-Bakri, Description de l'Afrique septentrionale, trad. De Slane, edition de 1913, p.74.
Creswell, A., Early Muslim Architecture, Oxford 1934, II, pp.271–3.
Marçais, G., Architecture musulmane d'Occident, Paris, 1954, pp.35–6.
Ifriqiya: Thirteen centuries of Art and Architecture in Tunisia, p.201.

Citation of this web page:

Jamila Binous "Ramparts and Kasbah of Sousse" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tn;Mon01;23;en

Prepared by: Jamila BinousJamila Binous

Née en 1939 à Tunis, a étudié l'histoire et la géographie à l'Université de Tunis et l'urbanisme à l'Université de Tours (France).
Mme Binous a exercé 30 ans durant autant que chercheur puis directeur à l'Association pour la Sauvegarde de la Médina de Tunis.
A été expert de l'Unesco (mission Sanaa « Ville Historique ») en 1982 ; expert national pour le projet UNDP de reconstruction des sites historiques méditerranéens ; membre du Comité International des Villes Historiques ; co-auteur de la Charte internationale des Villes Historiques (ICOMOS-UNESCO).
Consultante auprès de l'IMED pour l'étude sur le contexte législatif, la stratégie et la politique des musées en Tunisie 2002-2003.
Coordinatrice de l'exposition la femme et le seuil in Femme, culture et créativité en Tunisie – Credif - Tunis 2001.
Mme Binous a pris part à divers congrès internationaux, écrit plusieurs articles et ouvrages tels que :
- Tunis d'un monument à l'autre, Tunis, 1970
- Tunis, Tunis, 1985
- Les chefs d'œuvres de l'artisanat tunisien, Tunis 1982
- Les maisons de la Médina de Tunis, Dar Asraf édition Tunis 2002.
Translation by: David Ash
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: TN 23