Overview
Gabes is a large oasis town with a several thousand year-old history, located at the crossroads of the main routes linking the north of the country to the depth of the Sahara and a true gateway to the Berber hinterland in the austere heights of the Matmata Mountains. All these features make it a meeting place of multiple and varied human richness, a richness that is eloquently expressed in its ethnographic museum.
The Gabes museum occupies the premises of a historical monument, a school dating to the Muradite period at the end of the XVIIth century. It consists of a proper complex with a wing devoted to religious teaching, a mosque and a residence for students. The complex is harmonious, both sober and elegant at the same time. Close by is another historical monument: the zawiya – mausoleum of the patron saint of the town, Sidi Boulebaba al-Ansari, who came from Arabia with the first wave of Moslem conquerors.
As for the content of the museum, it reflects life in the oasis through four main themes:
Domestic crafts, weddings, food and agriculture. The museum also contains a few archaeological pieces: capitals, stone inscriptions, funerary urns etc.
