Great Mosque

The Great Mosque, in the northeast corner of the medina, is North Africa's holiest Islamic site. It's also known as Sidi Okba Mosque, after the founder of Kairouan who built the first mosque here in AD 670. The original version was completely destroyed, and most of what stands today was built by the Aghlabids in the 9th century. Entry is with the multiple-site ticket.

The exterior, with its buttressed walls, has a typically unadorned Aghlabid design. Impressions change once you step into the huge marble-paved courtyard, surrounded by an arched colonnade. The courtyard was designed for water catchment, and the paving slopes towards an intricately decorated central drainage hole which delivers the collected rainwater into the 9th-century cisterns below. The decorations were designed to filter dust from the water. The marble rims of the two wells both have deep rope-grooves worn by centuries of hauling water up from the depths.

The northwestern end of the courtyard is dominated by a square three-tiered minaret. The lowest level was built in AD 728. At the base of the minaret, note the two Roman slabs (one upside down) bearing Latin inscriptions.

The prayer hall is at the southern end of the courtyard. The enormous, studded wooden doors here date from 1829; the carved panels above them are particularly fine. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside, but the doors are left open to allow a glimpse of the interior. The 414 pillars that support the horseshoe arches and roof were, like those of the colonnade, originally Roman or Byzantine, salvaged from Carthage and Hadrumètum (Sousse), and no two are the same. At the far end of the hall, it's just possible to make out the precious 9th-century tiles behind the mihrab between two red marble columns. The tiles were imported from Baghdad along with the wood for the richly adorned minbar (pulpit) next to it.

Visitors must be appropriately dressed; robes are available at the entrance. Entry is through the main gate on rue Okba ibn Nafaa. The other eight gates are closed to non-Muslims.

For an overview of the Great Mosque, it's worth taking in the view from the roof of a neighbouring carpet shop on rue Okba ibn Nafaa. The owners will cheekily claim that the view is included in the price of the entry ticket; so too is a period spent inspecting carpets.