Overview
The National Museum of Islamic Arts of Raqqada-Kairouan is established in a former presidential residency turned into a cultural and educational venue on November 14, 1986. The museum of Raqqada is the largest museum dedicated to the collections of Islamic artefacts in Tunisia. It contains treasures of international renown exhibited in seven rooms distributed on the ground floor and first floor, in addition to a room for educational activities. The collections are distributed as follows:
On the first floor:
The Great Mosque Hall, which houses wooden elements from this prestigious place of worship, such as friezes decorated with plant motifs and calligraphy that were part of the ceiling. The room also houses the door of the maqsura (closet) of the Zirid Amir Al-Muizz ibn Badis and a beautiful wooden model of the entire monument on a 1:50 scale.
The Ceramics and Glass Room houses artefacts from the Fatimid, Hafsid, and Ottoman eras that have been recovered from excavations at Raqqadah and Sabra al-Mansuriyah; those from the Aghlabid period are characterized by the use of luster techniques, archaic kufic script, and stylized zoomorphic and anthropomorphic designs. This space also displays a collection of blue-colored Iznik ceramic tiles dating back to the 16th century and tiles made in the workshops of Qallaline in Tunis, dating back to the 17th century.
On the first floor:
The mosaic room, where rare Islamic mosaics from Raqqada and Mahdia are displayed.
The lapidary inscriptions room, houses an Aglabid and Ottoman sundials, commemorative inscriptions, flat prismatic funerary stelae and columns from the cemetery of Kairouan.
The manuscript room, contains a rich collection of Qur'anic leaves on parchment belonging to the library of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, showing the evolution of calligraphy and ornamentation styles (from the 2nd H./ 8th c. AD to the 8th H. / 14th c. AD). The masterpiece is undoubtedly the famous blue Qur’an (second half 9th-mid-10th century Quranic manuscript written in Kufic calligraphy). There are also sumptuous specimens of leather bindings with floral and geometric decoration, some of which date back to the 9th century AD, as well as a remarkable collection of Qur'ans and books of exegesis and hadith that are distinguished by the quality of their illumination
The Bronzes Room (known as the Domed Hall): it houses bronze artefacts and a series of lanterns dating back to the medieval period, including the lantern of Zirid ruler Al-Muizz ibn Badis, which lit the Great Mosque, decorative zoomorphic figures and, above all, surgical instruments.
The Coin and Weight Room houses an important collection of coins dating back to the Aghlabid, Fatimid, Hafsid and Ottoman eras and tracing the economic history of Ifriqiya over more than six centuries. A case is also dedicated to weights.
