Dar Hussein
Tunis medina, Tunisia
Institut National du Patrimoine
18th–19th centuries
Built in the 12th century in the heart of the Banu Khorasan's royal city, this palace was occupied by the nobles of various dynasties who had ruled Ifriqiya. It became the seat of Tunis Municipality in 1858, after being restored and redecorated. The palace is named after the General Hussein, who was president of the municipality’s highest council. From 1882 until independence the palace served as the headquarters for the troops of the French occupation. It then became the seat first of Institut National d’Archéologie et Art, and in 1993 of l'Institut National du Patrimoine.
Dar Hussein, one of the most beautiful palaces of the Tunis medina, shows traces of all the different eras of Tunisian architecture, from the Khorasani era through the Andalusian, Turkish and colonial eras. On the ground floor, four large rooms, including a great hall, surround a peristyle. The neo-corinthian capitals topping the columns were made by Italian sculptors. On the first floor there is an elegant second peristyle in a 19th century Italian style, The galleries are divided up into four apartments, decorated with frescoes painted on faience pottery beneath a frieze of carved plaster.
Saloua Khadhar Zangar "Dar Hussein" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monuments;AWE;tn;16;en
Prepared by: Saloua Khadhar Zangar
Translation by: Flaminia Baldwin
MWNF Working Number: TN 016
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