Palais de la Rose
La Manouba, Tunis, Tunisia
Ministère de la Défense nationale, Tunis
18th–19th centuries
The Palais de la Rose was built in the late 18th century, within La Manouba's royal gardens. Although originally used as a recreational palace for the Husainid beys, it soon began to receive many famous guests or persons visiting Tunisia, such as Queen Caroline of Brunswick in 1816. During the reign of Ahmed Pacha Bey (1837–1855) the palace became a residence for foreign teachers at the École Militaire du Bardo, among whom was the famous hero of Italian independence, Giuseppe Garibaldi. From 1881, the beginning of the French protectorate in Tunisia, the palace became the occupying army's headquarters. Following independence, the palace was restored and thus regained its original splendour and the became home to the Musée Militaire National.
The Palais de la Rose is an example of "Moorish" architecture from Spain and North Africa with Italian influences. Its most notable features are the grand staircase, the great hall surrounded by a marble gallery, and the huge, luxurious courtrooms. It is richly decorated in a variety of styles, with Italian marble in rare colours and an elegant rococo style, as can be seen from the Neapolitan faience pottery, the vaulted ceilings, and the tympanums finely carved from stucco or naqsh hadida in one of the styles popular at the time, such as an eight-point star between two stylised cypress trees. Finally, palace-museum's four great rooms invite its visitors to learn about the history of the Tunisian army from antiquity to the War of Independence.
Saloua Khadhar Zangar "Palais de la Rose" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;AWE;tn;2;en
Prepared by: Saloua Khadhar Zangar
Translation by: Flaminia Baldwin
MWNF Working Number: TN 002
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