About the work
This is the fourth most important sacred city of the Islamic world after the recognized centers - Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Because it was precisely here that, after the Arabs invaded Africa, the leader of the Arab army Uqba ibn Nafi thrust his spear into the unwelcoming African steppe, founding with this the very first city of the Arabs in Africa.
Just a couple of hours' drive from this small town, on the beaches of Tunisia, crowds of tourists vacationing in this country bask under the African sun and carelessly splash in the gentle waters. But the city of Kairouan, stubbornly resisting, silently endures the aggressive modernity neighboring it. Here life flows to the rhythm of Islam. One even gets the impression that in this ancient city time has stopped, lost in the intricacies of the bazaar streets, in the labyrinths of alleys and passages.
Several times a day a real concert of muezzins sounds here, diligently calling to prayer from more than a hundred city minarets: the sound of the well-tuned Arab-Islamic ensemble of the Old City.
Surrounded by an imposing city wall, the Old City of Kairouan, with its city gates such as Bab el-Khoukha, with the Great Mosque counting seventeen naves, with the Mosque of the Three Doors possessing incomparable decor in the characteristic Spanish-Moorish style, presents a unique picture of a city preserved in its medieval form. And in 1988 the historical center of Kairouan was declared by UNESCO a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Just a couple of hours' drive from this small town, on the beaches of Tunisia, crowds of tourists vacationing in this country bask under the African sun and carelessly splash in the gentle waters. But the city of Kairouan, stubbornly resisting, silently endures the aggressive modernity neighboring it. Here life flows to the rhythm of Islam. One even gets the impression that in this ancient city time has stopped, lost in the intricacies of the bazaar streets, in the labyrinths of alleys and passages.
Several times a day a real concert of muezzins sounds here, diligently calling to prayer from more than a hundred city minarets: the sound of the well-tuned Arab-Islamic ensemble of the Old City.
Surrounded by an imposing city wall, the Old City of Kairouan, with its city gates such as Bab el-Khoukha, with the Great Mosque counting seventeen naves, with the Mosque of the Three Doors possessing incomparable decor in the characteristic Spanish-Moorish style, presents a unique picture of a city preserved in its medieval form. And in 1988 the historical center of Kairouan was declared by UNESCO a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Anna P.
Elena I.
Elena
