Name of Monument:

Mosque of Yussef Sahib al-Taba‘a

Location:

In the Medina, Tunis, Tunisia

Date of Monument:

Hegira 1223–9 / AD 1808–14

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

Haj Sassi ibn Frija.

Period / Dynasty:

Husaynid, Ottoman

Patron(s):

The minister Yussef Sahib al-Taba‘a.

Description:

The Sahib al- Taba'a Mosque dominates the Halfawiyyne Square (alfa-grass sellers). It looms over the shops and warehouses. The prayer hall is framed by three galleries. From the square an elbow-shaped staircase leads to the east gallery which has a double colonnade and five arches opening onto the square. An octagonal minaret stands at the right-hand corner. It remained unfinished at the death of the founder of the building and did not get its lantern until the 1970s. This gallery has an outside mihrab for fine-weather devotions.
The actual prayer hall contains nine naves and seven bays. Each of the two bays at either end (running along the qibla wall and the front wall), has been endowed with three domes, one in the centre and one at each corner. The naves are roofed with barrel vaults finished off with cloister arches.
There is more western influence in the decoration of this mosque than in any other Tunisian oratory. The marble is more abundant than elsewhere and imported direct from Carrara (Italy). The long columns are fluted and have composite capitals; the consequence of an Italian interpretation of the Tunisian model in the Turkish period. The arches do not curve inwards enough at the base to be called horseshoe arches. The lintels are loaded with neo-Baroque bas-relief carvings. The marble panelling applied to most of the wall area leaves little space for ceramic tiles, which only figure in the upper parts, in the spandrels of the arches. The decoration of the mihrab and of the fixed minbar, in polychrome marble, mixes floral ornamentation (some gilded) with pseudo-Gothic arcatures.
The Sahib al-Taba'a complex also has two madrasas and the tomb of the founder, all of which are accessed through the north façade.

The Mosque of Yussef Sahib al-Taba‘a dominates the Halfawiyyne Square (alfa-grass sellers) and is built above shops and warehouses. It bears the name of its founder, Yussef Sahib al-Taba‘a, minister to the Husaynid bey, and adjoins two madrasas and the tomb of its founder. Its decoration reveals a western influence, with marble pieces, more abundant that in other places, imported from Italy. Its slender, fluted columns are crowned with composite capitals, while the polychrome marble decoration on the mihrab and the fixed minbar mixes pseudo-Gothic arcatures and floral decoration.

How Monument was dated:

Literary sources, including the famous chronicler Ahmed ibn Abi Dhiaf. According to the original deeds of the habus legacy in favour of the mosque in 1220/1856, Yussef Khuja, guardian of the bey's seals, financed the construction of a mosque (“… unique and admirable …”). This building is near the holy Msayka Mausoleum in the Halfawiyyne quarter.

Citation of this web page:

Mohamed Béji Ben Mami "Mosque of Yussef Sahib al-Taba‘a" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2025. 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tn;Mon01;7;en

Prepared by: Mohamed Béji Ben MamiMohamed Béji Ben Mami

Né le 27 janvier 1950 à Tunis, docteur en archéologie islamique, Mohamed Béji Ben Mami est directeur général de l'Institut national du patrimoine et vice-président de la Municipalité de Tunis. Il a restauré, sauvegardé et mis en valeur plus d'une cinquantaine de monuments de la médina de Tunis, dirigé les fouilles de grands sites islamiques et organisé diverses expositions relatives à la civilisation arabo-islamique.
Depuis 1996, il est vice-président de l'Union des historiens arabes et représentant de l'Union des archéologues arabes de Tunisie.
Mohamed Béji Ben Mami a pris part à divers congrès internationaux et publié plusieurs articles et ouvrages, parmi lesquels Tourbet el-Bey (Tunis, 2004) et Les médersas de la médina de Tunis (Tunis, 2005).
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
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 07