Overview
The Sidi Amor Abada ethnographic museum (Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions) is set up in the Amor Abada mausoleum, located in the Abada suburb of Kairouan, not far from the Zitouna oratory. This saint, named Abu Hafs Amor Abada Ben Salem Ayari was a master blacksmith. Ahmed Bey dedicated this building to the saint around 1266H/1845A.D, where he was to be buried in 1855 A.D. Amor Abada was an outstanding figure, megalomaniac and endowed with a remarkable wit. While religious scholars were suspicious of him, ordinary people feared him and sought his blessing, out of belief in his supernatural powers. Oral tradition has woven around this character several tales and myths still alive in the collective memory until today.
In 1982, the great hall of the shrine ( zaouïa), which houses the saint's tomb, was converted into a museum where objects belonging to Sidi Amor Abada or made by him were displayed.
These pieces, of disproportionate dimensions, are in fact not very functional and reflect the megalomania of this character: very heavy wrought iron swords covered with solid wood sheaths, shelves, a colossal pipe, giant anchors, chests ... recovered from the naval base of Ghar el-Melh (north of Tunis) and offered to the saint by the Bey Ahmad. All these artifacts date back to the first half of the 13th century Hegira/ 19th century A.D., and some of them bear inscriptions with Maghrebi cursive script carved intaglio. These texts include Qur'anic verses, prophecies, accounts of aspects of the life of Sidi Amor Abada and his position regarding issues and events of his time. Nevertheless, these objects form a repertory of the techniques of smithing and wood manufacturing in Kairouan in the 13th H./ 19th AD
