Tunisia’s Memoir

Tunisia’s history reflects the great civilizations of the Mediterranean – Phoenicians, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman, French. The interlaced Islamic design is taken from a carved plaster wall in the Mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba, with the outer ornamentation in the indigo pigment of the Tuareg Berber people. The lion mosaic, now in the Bardo Mosaic Museum, shows the beauty and brutality of Roman rule. The dried plants, piece of gypsum, metal trinkets and most of the ceramics were gathered during my tour in 2010. Additional pottery shards are from Turkey and Jerusalem. The aqua chuck of slab glass found on a beach near Caesarea is probably from ancient glassmaking along Lebanon coast. The coral is from a necklace given me on a work trip to Tunis in 1987.

Photo credit: Jessica Marcotte