Bizerta

“Bizerte has five mosques: Djama Kebira, the great mosque; Djama R’bah, the name of the neighbourhood where it’s found; Djama el’Kasbah or the citadel mosque; Djama el’Ksibah, mosque of the small citadel; and Djama el’Andless, the Andalusian mosque found in that neighbourhood.

   

In addition to those five, Bizerte has six smaller ones, chapels and schools ( Zaouia). In order of importance, these are: Djama Sidi Ben Aïça, Djama Sidi-Aber Rháman, Djama el Meddah, Djama Tidjania, Djama Sidi Hanane and Djama Sidi Moustari. There are also six elementary schools, Messejidis. The majority of children, at any rate, go to the one called the French-Arabic School.

You can recognise the mosques by their raised minarets, with stairs to make access easier. They raise their elegant octagonal towers with their cherished flag of the past, to which residents turn their gaze, always full of hope.”

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, Bizerte, J. Rothschild, Paris, 1900 (Prague, 1897)