Turbet al-Bey

This architectural complex is located at the south-western end of the medina, near Bab al-Jazira. It is surrounded by several edifices built for Ali Bey.

It is made up of two courtyards surrounded by eight rooms, each of them covered with a dome. The original core is made up of the courtyard surrounded by four porticoes covered with flat roofs comprising joists and laths – relieving the strain on them are arches supported by Carrara marble columns with neo-Doric capitals. From the south-west side of this courtyard, one enters the Hall of the Sovereigns whose façades are covered in marble and punctuated by pilasters sculpted with Italianate motifs and whose distinctive architectural feature is its roof. The roof consists of a central onion dome built against four semi-domes complemented by four small corner domes. The central dome is supported, through pendentives, by four cruciform pillars topped with semicircular arches.

The other rooms are topped with ovoid or hemispherical onion domes covered with tiles placed on corner squinches or pendentives.

The architecture of the monument reflects distinct Ottoman influences, mainly visible through the majestic dome topping the funerary chamber reserved for the beys. The only equivalent of its model in Tunis is the mosque of Sidi Mehrez (1675). It was inspired by the style of the domes of the Ottoman mosques of Istanbul[1].

The elements constituting the decoration of the monument are varied. The ceramic panels and marble panels of the lower sections of the walls, as well as the stucco decoration of the upper sections, feature an incredible variety of decorations expressing a great faculty for assimilating foreign trends. The yellow and green panels with rosettes and palmettes are most probably Catalan in origin. The neo-Corinthian capitals and the frames of the polychrome marble doors, some of which feature very refined sculpted floral decoration, come from Italy and France. The lower section of the walls is covered in ceramic tiles in different colours with floral and geometric motifs. Some of them were imported from Italy (tiles from Naples decorated with a multicoloured bird also used at Dar Hassine[2] in Tunis), while others were locally produced (Qallaline workshops, Tunis). The Ottoman influence is notable in the ceramics from the Qallaline workshops and in the stucco decorations of the domes in which cypress motifs may be made out.

The floral motifs take the form of rinceaux adorned with palmettes, fleurons and acanthus leaves in a vase. The animal motifs are limited to birds and vultures. The geometric decoration comprises stars, crescents, squares and rectangles. Certain panels are filled with cylindrical minarets and floral motifs. There are fifty-seven different motifs in total. For each figure there is a name, such as ennawara (the flower), al-ganaria (the artichoke) and afsat essid (lion paw print) – quintessentially Mediterranean.

[2] Built in the eleventh century and entirely renovated in the eighteenth century.