The Abbaside Caliph of Baghdad El Mansour ordered his Governor Mohamed Ibn Il Ashaath Al KHOUZAI to fortify the city (762A.D-144H). At that time the ramparts had six doors :

1- Bab Abi Rabii (Door Abi Rabii)
2- Bab Tounes (Door of Tunis)
3- Bab Azhar (Door Azhar)
4- Bab Nafaa (Door Nafaa)
5- Bab Asram (Door Asram)
6- Bab Salam (Door Salam)

Bab Jelladine (Martyrs Door), Bab El Jedid (New Door) and Bab El Khoukha (El Khoukha (‘Peach’) Door) that that can be sees nowadays were rebuilt under the Husseinite sovereign Hussein Ben Ali (1705-1735 A.D).

The construction lasted from 1706 to 1712 A.D.

The first ramparts were built in 762 A.D. but were demolished and rebuilt several times. Those of 1054 were more than 9km long.

After the invasion of the Hilalians (1057A.D.) who came from Egypt, the city surface area shrank to its tenth, and the ramparts became only 3.8 km long (4 to 8m in height and 2.7m in width).

Beside their military role, the ramparts served as a special thermo-layer against the summer days temperature. The protection against heat is reinforced by the narrowness of alleys.

The old city (Medina) of Kairouan is an urban entity. It has a trapezoidal shape and covers a surface of 52ha. Its average length is 1000m and its average width is 500m. It includes 105 historical monuments (4 mosques, 62 mesjeds, and 39 zaouias listed by ASM, the Association for the Safeguard of the Medina) inherited from its glorious past. 22 of them are classified.

Mohamed Rebai
info@kairouan.org