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Kairouan*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mosque of Oqba
State Party Flag of Tunisia Tunisia
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iii, v, vi
Reference 499
Region† Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription 1988  (12th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
† Region as classified by UNESCO.

Kairouan (Arabic القيروان) (also known as Kairwan, Kayrawan, Al Qayrawan) is a Muslim holy city which ranks after Mecca and Medina as a place of pilgrimage. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex As of 2008 there are a total of 878 World Heritage Sites located in 145 "State Parties" Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Mecca ˈmɛkə also spelled Makkah ˈmækə (in full Makkah Al-Mukarramah (Arabic mækːæ(t ælmʊkarˑamæ مكّة المكرمة, literally Honored Medina mɛˈdiːnə (المدينة المنورة ælmæˈdiːnæl muˈnɑwːɑrɑ or المدينة ælmæˈdiːnæ also transliterated into English as [1] Located in Tunisia, about 160 kilometres south of Tunis, it is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate. Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. Tunis ( Arabic: تونس Tūnis) is the Capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis The Kairouan Governorate (ولاية القيروان is one of the twenty-four Governorates (provinces of Tunisia. It was founded by the Arabs in around 670 and the original name was derived from Arabic kairuwân, from Persian Kâravân, meaning "camp", "caravan", or "resting place" (see caravanserai). The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Events By Place Europe On the death of his brother Clotaire Childeric II becomes king of all of the Frankish kingdoms ( Austrasia Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language A caravanserai ( kārvānsarā, Turkish kervansaray) was a roadside Inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey In 2003 the city had about 150,000 inhabitants.

Contents

History

Kairouan was founded in about the year 670 when the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi selected a site in the middle of a dense forest, then infested with wild beasts and reptiles, as the location of a military post. Events By Place Europe On the death of his brother Clotaire Childeric II becomes king of all of the Frankish kingdoms ( Austrasia The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Uqba ibn Nafi () (also referred to as Uqba bin Nafe Uqba Ibn al Nafia or Akbah (622&ndash683 was an Arab general under the Umayyad dynasty who began the Etymology The word bases is first recorded in English language from c It was to keep in check the Berber hordes and was located far from the sea where it was safe from attack. Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. A city soon developed, with luxuriant gardens and olive groves. Ibn Nafi was killed in battle by the Berbers about fifteen years after the military post was established.

The city was soon recaptured and remained for four centuries a major holy city. In the 10th century, the city was embellished by the Aghlabites who ruled Ifriqiya from there between 800 and 909. The Aghlabid dynasty of emirs members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, ruled Ifriqiya (northern Africa nominally on behalf of the Abbasid In medieval history, Ifriqiya or Ifriqiyah (إفريقية was the area comprising the coastal regions of what are today western Libya, Tunisia It was the capital in the 11th century, and was famous for its wealth and prosperity.

About the middle of the eleventh century, the Ismaili Shiite Fatimites of Egypt instigated the Egyptian Bedouins to invade this part of Africa. For the Egyptian city see Ismaïlia. The Ismāʿīlī ( Urdu: إسماعیلی Ismāʿīlī, Arabic: الإسماعيليون This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Bedouin, (from the Arabic (ar بدوي pl badū) are a desert-dwelling Arab Nomadic pastoralist, or previously These invaders so utterly destroyed the city in 1057 that it never regained its former importance. Then Mahdia became the capital under the Fatimites. For the town in Guyana see Mahdia Guyana. Mahdia, Arabic: المهدية (al-Mahdiya is a Tunisian Under the Ottomans, who called it Kairuan in Turkish (as in modern German), and included mention of the city in the full style of the Great Sultan (alongside broader Barbary and the new vilayet), Tunis became the capital (as seat of the Dey, next the soon ever more autonomous (Basha) Bey), and remains so in modern Tunisia. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish Tunis ( Arabic: تونس Tūnis) is the Capital of the Tunisian Republic and also the Tunis Dey (Arabic داي from Turkish Dayı) was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers ( Algeria) and Tunis ( Tunisia) under In 1881, Kairouan was taken by the French, after which non-Muslims were allowed access to the city. Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics.

Religion

There are many mosques in the city, among which the great mosque. A "mosque" in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated for Islamic worship although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller privately owned mosque and the larger After its establishment, Kairouan became an Islamic and Qur'anic learning center in North Africa. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan An article titled Towards a Strategic Geopolitic Vision of Afro-Arab Relations[2] by Professor Kwesi Prah [3] states "By 670, the Arabs had taken Tunisia, and by 675, they had completed construction of Kairouan, the city that would become the premier Arab base in North Africa. Kairouan was later to become the third holiest city in Islam in the medieval period, after Mecca and Medina, because of its importance as the centre of the Islamic faith in the Maghrib".

Judaism, no longer prevalent in the city, has an illustrious history in Kairouan, particularly in the early Middle Ages. Rabbeinu Chananel was from Kairouan and many other important rabbis, including Rabbi Isaac Alfasi studied there with him. Chananel ben Chushiel or Hananel ben Hushiel (חננאל בן חושיאל was a Rabbi, Talmudist and a student of one of the last Geonim. Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (1013 - 1103 - also Isaac Hakohen, Alfasi or the Rif (רי"ף - was a Talmudist and Posek (decisor

Tourism

The souk (market place) of Kairouan is in the Medina quarter, which is surrounded by walls, from which the entrance gates can be seen in the distance. A souk (سوق also sook, souq, or suq, or shuq in Hebrew שוק is a highly fashioned commercial quarter in an Arab or Berber A medina quarter (المدينة العتيقة is a distinct city section found in many North African cities Products that are sold in the souk include carpets, vases and goods made of leather. As with merchants in most major Tunisian cities, Kairouan merchants rely on tourism for much of their income.

The city's other main site is the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba, which is said to largely consist of its original building materials. The Mosque of Uqba (Arabic جامع عقبة (also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan (Arabic جامع القيروان الأكبر is one of the most important mosques In fact most of the column stems and capitals were taken from ruins of earlier-period buildings, while others were produced locally. There are 414 columns in the mosque. Almost all were taken from the ruins of Carthage. Carthage (Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Carthago from the Phoenician קרת חדשת phn-Latn Qart-ḥadašt meaning new town) refers Previously, it was forbidden to count them, on pain of blinding. [4]

Among Tunisians, Kairouan is known for its pastries (e. g. , zlebia and makroudh). Zlebia or Zlabia is a type of Pastry eaten in parts of north-west Africa such as Morocco and Tunisia. Makroudh is a type of Pastry eaten in parts of Tunisia and Algeria.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the street scenes in "Cairo" were filmed in Kairouan. Raiders of the Lost Ark (also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a 1981 Adventure film directed by Steven Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt.


Footnotes

  1. ^ (1996) Hutchinson Encyclopedia 1996 Edition. Helicon Publishing Ltd, Oxford, pg. Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, 572. ISBN 1-85986-107-5.  
  2. ^ This was originally a paper submitted to the African Union (AU) Experts’ Meeting on a Strategic Geopolitic Vision of Afro-Arab Relations. AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, 11-12 May, 2004 [1].
  3. ^ Director, Centre for Advanced Study of African Societies, Cape Town, South Africa
  4. ^ Mooney, Julie (2004). Ripley's Believe It or Not! Encyclopedia of the Bizarre: Amazing, Strange, Inexplicable, Weird and All True!. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 47. ISBN 1579123996.  

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