TOURBET EL BEY

The Tourbet El Bey, mausoleum of the Husseinid princes, dates from Ali Pasha II (1758-1782) and is the largest monument of its kind in Tunis. The yellowish sandstone outer façades are embellished with Italianate pilasters and tablets. Various different sized domes crown the terraces which correspond to a complex succession of rooms which form the monument.
Besides the tombs of the sovereigns and their families the monument also holds those of some ministers or faithful courtiers.
Among the funerary chambers two are particularly noteworthy : the first of these holds the tombs of reigning sovereigns and is faced in luxurious multicoloured marble in the Italian style. The second is surprising more by its architecture than its décor ; its roof is a great ovoid cupola. The tombs, dug into the ground, are marked by marble sarcophagi copiously adorned with bas-relief motifs above which rise the triangular memorial columns surmounted by a turban or fez carved in the stone for a male. Women's tombs are marked at each en by a marble plaque, one of which is inscribed