Bardo National Museum (Tunis)

Bardo National Museum
Hellenistic; Roman;
Visitors	664,891 (2005)
Curator	Moncef Ben Moussa
Website	www.bardomuseum.tn

The Bardo National Museum (

Arabic: المتحف الوطني بباردو, romanized: el-Metḥef el-Waṭanī bi-Bārdū; French: Musée national du Bardo) is a museum of Tunis, Tunisia, located in the suburbs of Le Bardo

.

It is one of the most important museums in the Mediterranean region and the second museum of the African continent after the Egyptian Museum of Cairo by richness of its collections.^[1] It traces the history of Tunisia over several millennia and across several civilizations through a wide variety of archaeological pieces.

Housed in an old

independence

of the country even if the denomination is attested before that date.

The museum houses one of the largest collections of Roman mosaics in the world, thanks to excavations at the beginning of 20th century in various archaeological sites in the country including

Roman Africa. From the Roman era, the museum also contains a rich collection of marble statues representing the deities and the Roman emperors found on different sites including those of Carthage and Thuburbo Majus

.

The museum also houses pieces discovered during the excavations of Libyco-Punic sites including Carthage, although the National Museum of Carthage is the primary museum of the Carthage archaeological site. The essential pieces of this department are grimacing masks, terracotta statues and stelae of major interest for Semitic epigraphy, and the stele of the priest and the child. The museum also houses Greek works discovered especially in the excavations of the shipwreck of Mahdia, whose emblematic piece remains the bust of Aphrodite in marble,^{[not verified in body]} gnawed by the sea.

The Islamic Department contains, in addition to famous works such as the

Blue Qur'an of Kairouan, a collection of ceramics from the Maghreb and Anatolia

.

In order to increase the reception capacity and optimize the presentation of the collections, the museum is the subject of a vast operation which was to be completed initially in 2011 but was not finished until 2012 due to the Tunisian Revolution. The work concerns the increase of the exhibition surfaces by adding new buildings and redeploying the collections. The project aims to make the museum a major pole for a quality cultural development, so that the visitor can appreciate the artistic pieces deposited.

On March 18, 2015, an Islamist terrorist group

ISIS

.

Location and description

The Bardo National Museum building was originally a 15th-century

Hafsid palace, located in the suburbs of Tunis

.

The Bardo is one of the most important museums of the

Mediterranean basin, and the second largest on the African continent after the Egyptian Museum. It traces the history of Tunisia

over several millennia and through many civilizations through a wide variety of archaeological pieces. Being in the former palace, it offers many major works discovered since the beginnings of archaeological research in the country. Originally called Museum Alaoui (المتحف العلوي), the name of the reigning bey at the time, it has had its current name of Museum of Bardo only since the country's independence.

In addition to famous works such as the

Asia Minor

.

The Bardo brings together one of the finest and largest collections of Roman mosaics in the world thanks to the excavations undertaken from the beginning of the 20th century on archaeological sites in the country including Carthage, Hadrumetum, Dougga, or Utica. The mosaics represent a unique source for research on everyday life in Roman Africa. The museum also contains a rich collection of marble statues representing the gods and Roman emperors found on various sites including those of Carthage and Thuburbo Majus.

The Bardo has also rich pieces discovered during the excavations of Libyco-

Greek works discovered in particular in the excavations of the ship of Mahdia, whose iconic piece^{[according to whom?]} is a marble bust of Aphrodite.^{[attribution needed}

]

The museum underwent a major refurbishment, completed in 2012, that was interrupted due to the Tunisian revolution. The expansion, which added 9,000 square meters to the complex, was designed by SCPA Codou-Hindley (France) and Amira Nouira (Tunisia). Considerable funding came from the World Bank.^[2]