Centre · Tunisia
Kairouan
Islam's fourth holiest city — Great Mosque, makroudh and carpet workshops.
Founded in 670 CE, Kairouan is the oldest Arab-Muslim city in North Africa and one of the four holy cities of Islam. Its Great Mosque is a foundational monument: the prototype that influenced mosque architecture across the Maghreb and Andalusia.
The medina, listed by UNESCO, is famous for hand-knotted carpets — a craft passed down for generations — and for makroudh, a date-stuffed semolina pastry that's a Kairouan specialty.
Just outside town, the Aghlabid Basins are 9th-century reservoirs that supplied the city with water — engineering masterpieces still impressive today.