Borj El Kebir, also known as Borj El Ghazi Mustapha, is an ancient

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Houmt El Souk Houmt Souk ( '), meaning literally: "The Market neighbourhood", is a commune and the main town of the island of Djerba, Tunisia. A popular tourist destination, it is best known for its traditional souk and the Aghlabid fortress. It is located at ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on the island of

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

. It is the largest and best preserved local castle, and is one of the most visited historical sites on the island.

Etymology

The name Borj El Ghazi Mustapha comes from the

Qaid Qaid ( ', "commander"; pl. ', or '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Normans, Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to thos ...

who settled in Djerba in 1559.

Location

The castle is located in the north of

near the fishing port.

History

It was built in the end of the 14th century over the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Griba, after the deportation of the soldiers of

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan language, Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his ...

on the orders of the

hafsid The Hafsid dynasty ( ) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. that ruled Ifriqiya (modern day Tunisia, w ...

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

. In 1450, the castle was extended. On 28 July 1881, during the French occupation, French troops settled in the castle. In 1903, it became a property of the Tunisian authorities who gave it the status of a national historical monument on 15 March 1904 and transformed it into a museum. Restoration started in 1969 and was completed by the early 1980s.

Description

The borj has a rectangular form. Nowadays, the monument has two

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

s: Sidi saad, and Ghazi Mustapha, for Ghazi Mustapha Bey.Kamel Tmarzizet, op. cit., p. 153

Gallery

File:Borj ghazi Mustapha002.jpg, Entrance of castle File:Borj El Kebir on Djerba (Tunisia).jpg, View of the walls File:Borj Ghazi Mustapha.JPG, One of the towers of the castle File:Borj El Ghazi Mustapha - Houmt El Souk, Djerba 02.jpg, A close-up of one of the fortress towers illuminated at night, highlighting its architectural details File:Borj Ghazi Mustapha5.jpg, Sidi Saad and Ghazi Mustapha mausoleums File:Borj Ghazi Mustapha4.jpg, The hall File:Borj Ghazi Mustapha3.jpg, An old tool found in 1975 File:Borj El Ghazi Mustapha - Houmt El Souk, Djerba 01.jpg, The fortress at night

References

{{coord, 33.5302, N, 10.5137, E, source:dewiki_region:TN_scale:2000_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Djerba Castles in Tunisia