Page 51 - International Architecture & Design Sotheby's Summer 2016

Tunis, Tunisia
Located in northeastern Tunisia, on a coastal plain and the
surrounding hills, Tunis has no beaches, which spares it from the tourists that swarm the resorts along the Mediterranean. What this country’s gritty capital has is a charming laid-back ambience and two well- defined urban areas.
The city, with its population of some one million, mirrors Tunisia’s complex layers of Arab, Mediterranean and European influences. Its his-
toric heart lies in the medina, or Arab quarter, where labyrinthine alley- ways wind past ornate keyhole-shaped doors and ancient structures topped by vaulted rooms built over the years by local residents when they ran out of horizontal space. Bustling souks spill out onto the streets with a dizzy- ing assortment of wares, and the air is redolent of spices and essential oils. Behind the faded building façades are mosques, madrasas (Islamic schools) and restored palaces dating back to the seventh century.
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